Cheeger isoperimetric constant of Gromov hyperbolic manifolds and graphs

In this paper, we study the relationship of hyperbolicity and (Cheeger) isoperimetric inequality in the context of Riemannian manifolds and graphs. We characterize the hyperbolic manifolds and graphs (with bounded local geometry) verifying this isoperimetric inequality, in terms of their Gromov boundary. Furthermore, we characterize the trees with isoperimetric inequality (without any hypothesis). As an application of our results, we obtain the solvability of the Dirichlet problem at infinity for these Riemannian manifolds and graphs, and that the Martin boundary is homeomorphic to the Gromov boundary.

CHEEGER ISOPERIMETRIC CONSTANTS OF GROMOV-HYPERBOLIC SPACES WITH QUASI-POLES

Let X be a non-compact complete manifold (or a graph) which admits a quasi-pole and has bounded local geometry. Suppose that X is Gromov-hyperbolic and the diameters (for a fixed Gromov metric) of the connected components of X(∞) have a positive lower bound. Under these assumptions we show that X has positive Cheeger isoperimetric constant. Examples are also constructed to show that the Cheeger constant h(X) may be zero if any of the above assumption on X is removed. Applications of this isoperimetric estimate include the solvability of the Dirichlet problem at infinity for non-compact Gromov-hyperbolic manifolds X above. In addition, we show that the Martin boundary ∂ΔX of such a space X is homeomorphic to the geometric boundary X(∞) of X at infinity.