Ends of finite volume, nonpositively curved manifolds

We study complete, finite volume $n$-manifolds $M$ of bounded nonpositive sectional curvature. A classical theorem of Gromov says that if such $M$ has negative curvature then it is homeomorphic to the interior of a compact manifold-with-boundary, and we denote this boundary $\partial M$. If $n\geq 3$, we prove that the universal cover of the boundary $\widetilde{\partial M}$ and also the $\pi_1M$-cover of the boundary $\partial\widetilde M$ have vanishing $(n-2)$-dimensional homology. For $n=4$ the first of these recovers a result of Nguyen Phan saying that each component of the boundary $\partial M$ is aspherical. For any $n\geq 3$, the second of these implies the vanishing of the first group cohomology group with group ring coefficients $H^1(B\pi_1M;\mathbb Z\pi_1M)=0$. A consequence is that $\pi_1M$ is freely indecomposable. These results extend to manifolds $M$ of bounded nonpositive curvature if we assume that $M$ is homeomorphic to the interior of a compact manifold with boundary. Our approach is a form of "homological collapse" for ends of finite volume manifolds of bounded nonpositive curvature. This paper is very much influenced by earlier, yet still unpublished work of Nguyen Phan.