Generalization of Selberg's $3/16$ theorem for geometrically finite thin subgroups of $\operatorname{SO}(n, 1)$

Abstract

Let $Γ$ be a geometrically finite thin subgroup of an arithmetic lattice $Γ_0 < G := \operatorname{SO}(n, 1)$ and consider the congruence covers of $Γ\backslash G$. In the breakthrough work of Bourgain-Gamburd-Sarnak, the expansion machinery was used to establish a uniform spectral gap in the setting $(G, Γ_0) = (\operatorname{SL}_2(\mathbb{R}), \operatorname{SL}_2(\mathbb{Z}))$ when the critical exponent satisfies $δ_Γ> \frac{1}{2}$. The main applications are affine sieve for $Γ$-orbits and uniform resonance-free half-planes for the resolvent of the Laplacian. These results were generalized in subsequent works by Mohammadi-Oh, Oh-Winter, the author, and Edwards-Oh. Yet, the region $δ_Γ\in \bigl(\frac{1}{2}, n - 2\bigr]$ for $n \geq 3$ remains to be treated when there are cusps. The purpose of this paper is to fill in this gap in the literature. The difficulty lies in working with a countably infinite coding due to the presence of cusps. In particular, we incorporate new tools to prove the Zariski density and full trace field properties of the return trajectory subgroups.