Small eigenvalues and thick-thin decomposition in negative curvature

Abstract

Let $M$ be a finite volume oriented Riemannian manifold of dimension $n\geq 3$ and curvature in $[-b^2,-1]$, with thick-thin decomposition $M=M(thick)\cup M(thin)$. Denote by $\lambda_k(M(thick))$ the k-th eigenvalue for the Laplacian on $M(thick)$, with Neumann boundary conditdions. We show that $\lambda_k(M(thick))/3\leq \lambda_k(M)$ for all k for which $\lambda_k(M)<(n-2)^2/12$. If $M$ is hyperbolic and of dimension 3 then $\lambda_k(M)< C \log(vol(M(thin))+2)\lambda_k(M(thick))$ for a fixed number $C>0$ provided that $\lambda_k(M(thick))<1/96$.