Hyperbolic 3-manifolds with k-free fundamental group

The results of Culler and Shalen for 2,3 or 4-free hyperbolic 3-manifolds are contingent on properties specific to and special about rank two subgroups of a free group. Here we determine what construction and algebraic information is required in order to make a geometric statement about $M$, a closed, orientable hyperbolic 3-manifold with $k$-free fundamental group, for any value of $k$ greater than four. Main results are both to show what the formulation of the general statement should be, for which Culler and Shalen's result is a special case, and that it is true modulo a group-theoretic conjecture. A major result is in the $k=5$ case of the geometric statement. Specifically, we show that the required group-theoretic conjecture is in fact true in this case, and so the proposed geometric statement when $M$ is 5-free is indeed a theorem. One can then use the existence of a point $P$ and knowledge about $π_1(M,P)$ resulting from this theorem to attempt to improve the known lower bound on the volume of $M$, which is currently 3.44.

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