Carrier graphs for representations of the rank two free group into isometries of hyperbolic three space

Abstract

Carrier graphs were first introduced for closed hyperbolic 3-manifolds by White. In this paper, we first generalize this definition to carrier graphs for representations of a rank two free group into the isometry group of hyperbolic three space. Then we prove the existence and the finiteness of minimal carrier graphs for those representations which are discrete, faithful and geometrically finite, and more generally, those that satisfy certain finiteness conditions first introduced by Bowditch.