Negatively Curved Three-Manifolds, Hyperbolic Metrics, Isometric Embeddings In Minkowski Space And The Cross Curvature Flow

Abstract

This short note is a mostly expository article examining negatively curved three-manifolds. We look at some rigidity properties related to isometric embeddings into Minkowski space. We also review the Cross Curvature Flow (XCF) as a tool to study the space of negatively curved metrics on hyperbolic three-manifolds, the largest and least understood class of model geometries in Thurston's Geometrisation. The relationship between integrability and embedability yields interesting insights, and we show that solutions with fixed Einstein volume are precisely the integrable solutions, answering a question posed by Chow and Hamilton when they introduced the XCF.