Horocyclic products have Y-posets of hyperbolic structures

Abstract

A hyperbolic structure on a group $G$ is a (not necessarily properly discontinuous) cobounded action of $G$ on a Gromov hyperbolic space, considered up to coarsely $G$-equivariant quasi-isometry. We show that for groups $G$ acting geometrically and positively on a horocyclic product $X\bowtie Y$, all hyperbolic structures on $G$ come from the two actions on the factors. The ingredients of the proof include Malcev rigidity and a new ("vertical") boundary of horocyclic products. We also give the first example of a group acting geometrically on a horocyclic product of two mixed millefeuille spaces.