Combinatorial horoballs, quasi-geodesic bicombings, and relative hyperbolicity
by
Jason Manning
Caltech
Coauthors: Daniel Groves

Relatively hyperbolic groups were first defined by Gromov. Since then, many equivalent characterizations have been given. I will discuss a new characterization of relatively hyperbolic groups which is close to Gromov's original definition, but made concrete in such a way that combinatorial tools originally developed for hyperbolic groups can be adapted to relatively hyperbolic groups. If time permits, applications to "Dehn filling" of relatively hyperbolic groups will also be discussed. This is joint work with Daniel Groves.

Date received: March 7, 2006