Systole of congruence coverings of arithmetic hyperbolic manifolds

Abstract

In this paper we prove that, for any arithmetic hyperbolic $n$-manifold $M$ of the first type, the systole of most of the principal congruence coverings $M_I$ satisfy $$sy{s}_1(M_I)\ge \frac{8}{n(n+1)}\log (vol(M_I))-c,$$ where $c$ is a constant independent of $I$. This generalizes previous work of Buser and Sarnak, and Katz, Schaps and Vishne in dimension 2 and 3. As applications, we obtain explicit estimates for systolic genus of hyperbolic manifolds studied by Belolipetsky and the distance of homological codes constructed by Guth and Lubotzky. In an appendix together with Cayo Dória we prove that the constant $\frac{8}{n(n+1)}$ is sharp.

arXiv comment20 pages. Section 5 added to extend the result to ideals which are not necessarily prime ideals. Minor changes and corrections. An appendix by Cayo Dória and Plinio G. P. Murillo