On multiplicities in length spectra of arithmetic hyperbolic three-orbifolds

Asymptotic laws for mean multiplicities of lengths of closed geodesics in arithmetic hyperbolic three-orbifolds are derived. The sharpest results are obtained for non-compact orbifolds associated with the Bianchi groups SL(2,o) and some congruence subgroups. Similar results hold for cocompact arithmetic quaternion groups, if a conjecture on the number of gaps in their length spectra is true. The results related to the groups above give asymptotic lower bounds for the mean multiplicities in length spectra of arbitrary arithmetic hyperbolic three-orbifolds. The investigation of these multiplicities is motivated by their sensitive effect on the eigenvalue spectrum of the Laplace-Beltrami operator on a hyperbolic orbifold, which may be interpreted as the Hamiltonian of a three-dimensional quantum system being strongly chaotic in the classical limit.Comment: 29 pages, uuencoded ps. Revised version, to appear in NONLINEARIT