Project Euclid

We classify the orientable finite-volume hyperbolic 3-manifolds having nonempty compact totally geodesic boundary and admitting an ideal triangulation with at most four tetrahedra. We also compute the volume of all such manifolds, describe their canonical Kojima decomposition, and discuss manifolds having cusps.

The eight manifolds built from one or two tetrahedra were previously known. There are 151 different manifolds built from three tetrahedra, realizing 18 different volumes. Their Kojima decomposition always consists of tetrahedra (but occasionally requires four of them). There is a single cusped manifold, which we can show to be a knot complement in a genus-2 handlebody. Concerning manifolds built from four tetrahedra, we show that there are 5,033 different ones, with 262 different volumes. The Kojima decomposition consists either of tetrahedra (as many as eight of them in some cases), of two pyramids, or of a single octahedron. There are 30 manifolds having a single cusp and one having two cusps.

Our results were obtained with the aid of a computer. The complete list of manifolds (in SnapPea format) and full details on their invariants are available on the world wide web.