Fine asymptotic geometry in the Heisenberg group

For every finite generating set on the integer Heisenberg group H(Z), Pansu showed that the word metric has the large-scale structure of a Carnot-Caratheodory Finsler metric on the real Heisenberg group H®. We study the properties of those limit metrics and obtain results about the geometry of word metrics that reflect the dependence on generators. For example we will study the probability that a group element has all of its geodesic spellings sublinearly close together, relative to the size of the element. In free abelian groups of rank at least two, that probability is 0; in infinite hyperbolic groups, the probability is 1. In H(Z) it is a rational number strictly between 0 and 1 that depends on the generating set; with respect to the standard generators, the probability is precisely 19/31.