Hybrid lattices and thin subgroups of Picard modular groups

Abstract

We consider a certain hybridization construction which produces a subgroup of ${\rm PU}(n,1)$ from a pair of lattices in ${\rm PU}(n-1,1)$. Among the Picard modular groups ${\rm PU}(2,1,\mathcal{O}_d)$, we show that the hybrid of pairs of Fuchsian subgroups ${\rm PU}(1,1,\mathcal{O}_d)$ is a lattice when $d=1$ and $d=7$, and a geometrically infinite thin subgroup when $d=3$, that is an infinite-index subgroup with the same Zariski-closure as the full lattice.