Flows, fixed points and rigidity for Kleinian groups

The main application of the techniques developed in this paper is to prove a relative version of Mostow rigidity, called pattern rigidity. For a cocompact group G, by a G-invariant pattern we mean a G-invariant collection of closed proper subsets of the boundary of hyperbolic space which is discrete in the space of compact subsets minus singletons. Such a pattern arises for example as the collection of translates of limit sets of finitely many infinite index quasiconvex subgroups of G. We prove that (in dimension at least three) for G ₁, G ₂ cocompact Kleinian groups, any quasiconformal map pairing a G ₁-invariant pattern to a G ₂-invariant pattern must be conformal. This generalizes a previous result of Schwartz who proved rigidity in the case of limit sets of cyclic subgroups, and Biswas and Mj (Pattern rigidity in hyperbolic spaces: duality and pd subgroups, arxiv:math.GT/08094449, 2008) who proved rigidity for Poincare Duality subgroups. Pattern rigidity is a consequence of the study conducted in this paper of the closed group of homeomorphisms of the boundary of real hyperbolic space generated by a cocompact Kleinian group G ₁ and a quasiconformal conjugate h ^?1 G ₂ h of a cocompact group G ₂. We show that if the conjugacy h is not conformal then this group contains a flow, i.e. a non-trivial one parameter subgroup. Mostow rigidity is an immediate consequence.