On the rigidity of discrete isometry groups of negatively curved spaces

Abstract

We prove an ergodic rigidity theorem for discrete isometry groups of CAT(-1) spaces. We give explicit examples of divergence isometry groups with infinite covolume in the case of trees, piecewise hyperbolic 2-polyhedra, hyperbolic Bruhat-Tits buildings and rank one symmetric spaces. We prove that two negatively curved Riemannian metrics, with conical singularities of angles at least 2π, on a closed surface, with boundary map absolutely continuous with respect to the Patterson-Sullivan measures, are isometric. For that, we generalize J.-P. Otal's result to prove that a negatively curved Riemannian metric, with conical singularities of angles at least 2π, on a closed surface, is determined, up to isometry, by its marked length spectrum.