We lay the foundations for the study of relatively quasiconvex subgroups of relatively hyperbolic groups. These foundations require that we first work out a coherent theory of countable relatively hyperbolic groups (not necessarily finitely generated
). We prove the equivalence of Gromov, Osin, and Bowditchs definitions of relative hyperbolicity for countable groups. We then give several equivalent definitions of relatively quasiconvex subgroups in terms of various natural geometries on a relatively hyperbolic group. We show that each relatively quasiconvex subgroup is itself relatively hyperbolic, and that the intersection of two relatively quasiconvex subgroups is again relatively quasiconvex. In the finitely generated case, we prove that every undistorted subgroup is relatively quasiconvex, and we compute the distortion of a finitely generated relatively quasiconvex subgroup.
The purpose of this erratum is to correct the proof of Theorem A.0.1 in the appendix to our article ``Hadamard spaces with isolated flats math.GR/0411232, which was jointly authored by Mohamad Hindawi, Hruska and Kleiner. In that appendix, many of th
e results of math.GR/0411232 about CAT(0) spaces with isolated flats are extended to a more general setting in which the isolated subspaces are not necessarily flats. However, one step of that extension does not follow from the argument we used the isolated flats setting. We provide a new proof that fills this gap. In addition, we give a more detailed account of several other parts of Theorem A.0.1, which were sketched in math.GR/0411232.
