Ping-pong in the projective plane over a nonarchimedean field

Abstract: We show that any lattice in $\mathrm{SL}_3(k)$, where $k$ is a nonarchimedean local field, contains an undistorted subgroup isomorphic to the free product $\mathbb{Z}^2*\mathbb{Z}$. To our knowledge, the subgroups we construct give the first examples in the literature of finitely generated Zariski-dense infinite-covolume discrete subgroups of an almost simple group over a nonarchimedean local field that are not virtually free. Our result is in contrast to the case of $\mathrm{SL}_3(\mathbb{Z})$, in which the existence of a $\mathbb{Z}^2*\mathbb{Z}$ subgroup remains open.