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Recently I have been going through the book Hyperbolic Knot Theory by Jessica Purcell. Exercise 5.4 (on page 101) gives us a presentation of the fundamental group of $S^3 - K$ where $K$ is the figure-eight knot. The presentation is

$$\pi_1(S^3-K)= \langle a,b : yay^{-1}=b \rangle$$

Here $y=a^{-1}bab^{-1}$. Also we are given a representation into $PSL(2,\mathbb{C})$ by

$$ A =\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 1\\ 0 & 1 \end{bmatrix} \quad \mbox{and} \quad B=\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0\\ -\omega & 1 \end{bmatrix} $$

Hhere $\omega$ is a non-trivial third root of unity. Taking $\Gamma = \langle A,B \rangle$ we find that $\Gamma$ acts on hyperbolic space $\mathbb{H}^3$ (thinking of $\mathbb{H}^3$ as the upper half space model). Now my question is the following:

Are there two elements $\alpha$ and $\beta$ in $\Gamma$ such that $\alpha$ is hyperbolic (the trace squared is real and greater than four), such that $\beta$ is strictly loxodromic (the trace squared is not in the interval $[0, \infty)$), and such that the fixed points of $\alpha$ and $\beta$ are in the same line and the geodesics passing through the fixed points do not intersect?

(Said another way: Let $g_{\alpha}$ and $g_\beta$ be the axes of $\alpha$ and $\beta$, respectively. So above we want $g_{\alpha}$ and $g_{\beta}$ to lie in a single hyperbolic plane, but not intersect.)

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    $\begingroup$ Nice question. Is there a motivation here? (That is, beyond understanding the figure-eight knot complement, which is always a good idea.) $\endgroup$
    – Sam Nead
    Commented May 20, 2022 at 12:18
  • $\begingroup$ Yes @SamNead we know the parabolic in the above knot complements(up to conjugates) just want to explore more about what are hyperbolics and loxodromics for which geodesics are satisfied the above conditions. $\endgroup$
    – T ghosh
    Commented May 21, 2022 at 11:21

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