Asymptotic Geometry and Growth of Conjugacy Classes of Nonpositively Curved Manifolds

Let X be a Hadamard manifold and Γ⊂Isom(X) a discrete group of isometries which contains an axial isometry without invariant flat half plane. We study the behavior of conformal densities on the limit set of Γ in order to derive a new asymptotic estimate for the growth rate of closed geodesics in not necessarily compact or finite volume manifolds. Mathematics Subject Classifications (2000): 20E45, 53C22, 37F35