On arithmetic Kleinian groups generated by three half-turns

Abstract

We study a generalization of the Fuchsian triangle groups to the hyperbolic 3-space, namely, the groups generated by half-turns in three hyperbolic lines. The role of the hyperbolic triangles is now played by the right-angled hexagons. This class of groups is very close to the arbitrary 2-generator Kleinian groups but appear to be much more geometric by the construction. The main idea of our research is to make use of the geometric properties of the generalized triangle groups to study 2-generator arithmetic Kleinian groups. In this paper we start with a parameterization for the generalized triangle groups by three complex numbers. Then we give a matrix representation and introduce an arithmeticity test for the group in terms of the given parameters. Finally, we apply the arithmeticity test to prove the finiteness of the number of the arithmetic groups in a partial case when all three parameters are equal. For this partial case we also describe the parameters of the non cocompact arithmetic triangle groups and present the singular sets of the corresponding factor-orbifolds.