In this paper we investigate the cohomological obstruction for the field of moduli of a $G$-cover to be a field of definition, in the case of local fields and covers with tame admissible reduction. This applies in particular to $p$-adic fields where $p$ does not divide the order of the group $G$. We give examples of $G$-covers with field of moduli $\QQ_p$ that cannot be defined over $\QQ_p$, for all primes $p>5$.
We consider two K3 surfaces defined over an arbitrary field, together with a smooth proper moduli space of stable sheaves on each. When the moduli spaces have the same dimension, we prove that if the étale cohomology groups (with Q_ell coefficients) of the two surfaces are isomorphic as Galois representations, then the same is true of the two moduli spaces. In particular, if the field of definition is finite and the K3 surfaces have equal zeta functions, then so do the moduli spaces, even when the moduli spaces are not birational.
We study the moduli space $\widetilde{\calM}$ of marked cubic surfaces. By classical work of A.\,B. Coble, this has a compactification $\widetilde{M}$, which is linearly acted upon by the group $W(E_6)$. $\widetilde{M}$ is given as the intersection of 30 cubics in $\bP^9$. For the morphism $\widetilde{calM} \to \bP(1,2,3,4,5)$ forgetting the marking, followed by Clebsch's invariant map, we give explicit formulas. I.e., Clebsch's invariants are expressed in terms of Coble's irrational invariants. As an application, we give an affirmative answer to the inverse Galois problem for cubic surfaces o…
We show that the Galois group $Gal(\bar{\Q} /\Q)$ operates faithfully on the set of connected components of the moduli spaces of surfaces of general type, and also that for each element $σ\in Gal(\bar{\Q} /\Q)$ different from the identity and from complex conjugation, there is a surface of general type such that $X$ and the Galois conjugate variety $X^σ$ have nonisomorphic fundamental groups. The result was announced by the second author at the Alghero Conference 'Topology of algebraic varieties' in september 2006. Before the present paper was actually written, we received a very interesting p…
We construct and study the moduli of continuous representations of a profinite group with integral $p$-adic coefficients. We present this moduli space over the moduli space of continuous pseudorepresentations and show that this morphism is algebraizable. When this profinite group is the absolute Galois group of a $p$-adic local field, we show that these moduli spaces admit Zariski-closed loci cutting out Galois representations that are potentially semi-stable with bounded Hodge-Tate weights and a given Hodge and Galois type. As a consequence, we show that these loci descend to the universal de…
Given an object over the algebraic closure Qbar of Q, there is often no reason for invariants of the corresponding holomorphic object to be preserved by the absolute Galois group Gal(Qbar/Q), and in general this is not true, although it is sometimes surprising to observe in practice. The case of covers of the projective line branched only over the points 0, 1, and infinity, through Belyi's theorem, leads to Grothendieck's dessins d'enfants program for understanding the absolute Galois group through its faithful action on such covers. This note is motivated by Catanese's question about a higher…
We establish that the geometric action of the absolute Galois group on the étale fundamental group of moduli spaces of curves induces a Galois action on its stack inertia subgroups, and that this action is given by cyclotomy conjugacy. This result extends the special case of inertia without étale factorisation previously established by the authors. It is here obtained in the general case by comparing deformations of Galois actions. Since the stack inertia corresponds to the first level of the stack stratification of the space, this results, by analogy with the arithmetic of the Deligne-Mumford…
We define a proper moduli stack for degree $p$ covers $f:Y \to \cX$ where $\cX$ is a twisted stable curve in the sense of [5] and [4], and $Y$ is a stable curve which via $f$ is a torsor over $\cX$ under a finite flat group scheme $\cG \to \cX$.
We prove that the non-ordinary component is connected in the moduli spaces of finite flat models of two-dimensional local Galois representations over finite fields. This was conjectured by Kisin. As an application to global Galois representations, we prove a theorem on the modularity comparing a deformation ring and a Hecke ring.
Let A be a complete discrete valuation ring with possibly imperfect residue field. The purpose of this paper is to give a notion of conductor for Galois representations over A that generalizes the classical Artin conductor. The definition rests on two general results: there is a moduli space that parametrizes the ways of modifying A so that its residue field is perfect, and any information about a Galois-theoretic object over A can be recovered from its pullback to the (residually perfect) discrete valuation ring corresponding to the generic point of this moduli space.
We consider components of Hurwitz moduli space of G-Galois covers and set up a powerful algebraic framework to study the set of corresponding equivalence classes of monodromy maps. Within that we study geometric stabilisation by various G-covers branched over the disc. Our results addresses the problem to decide equivalence and stable equivalence algebraically. We recover a homological invariant, which we show to distinguish the equivalence classes of given boundary monodromy and Nielsen type, if the latter is sufficiently large in the appropriate sense.
In this note we investigate the problem of existence of a torsor structure for Galois covers of (formal) schemes over a complete discrete valuation ring of residue characteristic $p>0$ in the case of abelian Galois groups of type (p,p,...,p).
We examine in detail the stable reduction of Galois covers of the projective line over a complete discrete valuation field of mixed characteristic (0, p), where G has a cyclic p-Sylow subgroup of order p^n. If G is further assumed to be p-solvable (i.e., G has no nonabelian simple composition factors with order divisible by p), we obtain the following consequence: Suppose f: Y --> P^1 is a three-point G-Galois cover defined over the complex numbers. Then the nth higher ramification groups above p for the upper numbering of the (Galois closure of the) extension K/Q vanish, where K is the field …
In this paper I explore the structure of the fields of definition of Galois branched covers of the projective line over \bar Q. The first main result states that every mere cover model has a unique minimal field of definition where its automorphisms are defined, and goes on to describe special properties of this field. One corollary of this result is that for every G-Galois branched cover there is a field of definition which is Galois over its field of moduli, with Galois group a subgroup of Aut(G). The second main theorem states that the field resulting by adjoining to the field of moduli all…
In this article we prove a local Riemman-Hurwitz formula which compares the dimensions of the spaces of vanishing cycles in a finite Galois cover of type (p,p,...,p) between formal germs of p-adic curves and which generalises the formula proven by the first author in the case of Galois covers of degree p. We also investigate the problem of the existence of a torsor structure for a finite Galois cover of type (p,p,...,p) between p-adic schemes.
In this paper we investigate the problem of lifting of Galois covers between algebraic curves from characteristic p>0 to characteristic 0. We prove a refined version of the main result of Garuti concerning this problem in [Ga]. We formulate a refined version of the Oort conjecture on liftings of cyclic Galois covers between curves. We introduce the notion of fake liftings of cyclic Galois covers between curves, their existence would contradict the Oort conjecture, and we study the geometry of their semi-stable models. Finally, we introduce and investigate on some examples the smoothening proce…
We consider the inverse Galois problem over function fields of positive characteristic p, for example, the inverse Galois problem over the projective line. We describe a method to construct certain Galois covers of the projective line and other curves, which are ordinary in the sense that their Jacobian has maximal p-torsion. We do this by constructing Galois covers of ordinary semi-stable curves, and then deforming them into smooth Galois covers.
We continue the examination of the stable reduction and fields of moduli of G-Galois covers of the projective line over a complete discrete valuation field of mixed characteristic (0, p), where G has a cyclic p-Sylow subgroup P of order p^n. Suppose further that the normalizer of P acts on P via an involution. Under mild assumptions, if f: Y --> P^1 is a three-point G-Galois cover defined over C, then the nth higher ramification groups above p for the upper numbering of the (Galois closure of the) extension K/Q vanish, where K is the field of moduli of f.
We give a canonical procedure associating to an algebraic number a first a hyperelliptic curve C_a, and then a triangle curve (D_a, G_a) obtained through the normal closure of an associated Belyi function. In this way we show that the absolute Galois group Gal(\bar{\Q} /\Q) acts faithfully on the set of isomorphism classes of marked triangle curves, and on the set of connected components of marked moduli spaces of surfaces isogenous to a higher product (these are the free quotients of a product C_1 x C_2 of curves of respective genera g_1, g_2 >= 2 by the action of a finite group G). We show t…
We examine conditions under which there exists a non-constant family of Galois branched covers of curves over an algebraically closed field $k$ of fixed degree and fixed ramification locus, under a notion of equivalence derived from considering linear series on a fixed smooth proper source curve $X$. We show such a family exists precisely when the following conditions are satisfied: $\operatorname{char}(k)=p>0$, $X$ is isomorphic to $\mathbb{P}^1_k$, there is a unique ramification point, and the Galois group is $(\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z})^m$ for some integer $m>0$.
Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p>0$. Let $G$ be $Z/\ell Z$ semi-direct product $Z/pZ$ where $\ell$ is a prime distinct from $p$. In this paper, we study Galois covers $ψ:Z \to P^1_k$ ramified only over $\infty$ with Galois group $G$. We find the minimal genus of a curve $Z$ that admits such a cover and show that it depends only on $\ell$, $p$, and the order $a$ of $\ell$ modulo $p$. We also prove that the number of curves $Z$ of this minimal genus which admit such a cover is at most $(p-1)/a$.
We prove that the groups PSL(r,q^d) can be realized F_q(T)-regularly as Galois groups over the purely transcendental field F_q(T)(t_1,...,t_{r-1}) if r is even and r/2 is coprime to q^d-1. The method is to use twisted moduli schemes of Drinfeld modules (a la Shih). If one has sufficient control over modular forms, it can be made into an algorithm to find explicit equations. We do this for PSL(2,q^2) using Drinfeld modular forms.
Let F be an algebraically closed field with char(F) not equal to 2, let F/K be a Galois extension, and let X be a hyperelliptic curve defined over F. Let ιbe the hyperelliptic involution of X. We show that X can be defined over its field of moduli relative to the extension F/K if Aut(X)/<ι> is not cyclic. We construct explicit examples of hyperelliptic curves not definable over their field of moduli when Aut(X)/<ι> is cyclic.
In this paper we study the semi-stable reduction of Galois covers of degree p above semi-stable curves over a complete discrete valuation ring of inequal characteristics (0,p). We are also able to describe the Galois action on these covers in terms of some geometric and combinatorial datas in characteristic p endowed with the action of the Galois group of the residue field.
The fundamental group of Fermat and generalized Fermat curves is computed. These curves are Galois ramified covers of the projective line with abelian Galois groups $H$. We provide a unified study of the action of both cover Galois group $H$ and the absolute Galois group $\mathrm{Gal}(\bar{\Q}/\Q)$ on the pro-$\ell$ homology of the curves in study. Also the relation to the pro-$\ell$ Burau representation is investigated.
Let $\ccM_{g,[n]}$, for $2g-2+n>0$, be the stack of genus $g$, stable algebraic curves, endowed with $n$ unordered marked points. Looijenga introduced the notion of Prym level structures in order to construct smooth projective Galois coverings of the stack $\ccM_{g}$. In §2 of this paper, we introduce the notion of Looijenga level structure which generalizes Looijenga construction and provides a tower of Galois coverings of $\ccM_{g,[n]}$ equivalent to the tower of all geometric level structures over $\ccM_{g,[n]}$. In §3, Looijenga level structures are interpreted geometrically in terms of mo…
Given a Galois cover of curves over $\mathbb{F}_p$, we relate the $p$-adic valuation of epsilon constants appearing in functional equations of Artin L-functions to an equivariant Euler characteristic. Our main theorem generalises a result of Chinburg from the tamely to the weakly ramified case. We furthermore apply Chinburg's result to obtain a `weak' relation in the general case. In the Appendix, we study, in this arbitrarily wildly ramified case, the integrality of $p$-adic valuations of epsilon constants.
Let SU_C(2) denote the moduli variety of rank 2 semistable vector bundles with trivial determinant on an algebraic curve C. We prove that if C is trigonal then there exists a projective moduli variety N_C containing SU_C(2) as a subvariety and smooth of dimension 7g-14 away from SU_C(2). N_C parametrises Galois Spin(8)-bundles on the Galois closure of C over P^1. Moreover, if x in J_C[2] is a 2-torsion point let R(x) be the Recillas tetragonal curve whose Jacobian is isomorphic to Prym(C,x). Then there is an injection of SU_R(x)(2) into N_C giving a `nonabelian Schottky configuration' in N_C s…
We describe various properties of Hirzebruch surfaces and related constructions: degenerations, braid monodromy, Galois covers and their Chern classes.
Inspired by recent work of Farb, Kisin and Wolfson, we develop a method for using actions of finite group schemes over a mixed characteristic dvr R to get lower bounds for the essential dimension of a cover of a variety over K = Frac(R). We then apply this to prove p-incompressibility for congruence covers of a class of unitary Shimura varieties for primes p at which the reduction of the Shimura variety (at any prime of the reflex field over p) does not have any ordinary points. We also make some progress towards a conjecture of Brosnan on the p-incompressibility of the multiplication by p map…
In this paper, we survey the major contributions of Abhyankar to the development of the theory of fundamental groups and Galois covers in positive characteristic. We first discuss the current status of four conjectures of Abhyankar about Galois covers in positive characteristic. Then we discuss research directions inspired by Abhyankar's work, including many open problems.
We study Galois covers of the projective line branched at three points with bad reduction to characteristic p, under the condition that p exactly divides the order of the Galois group. As an application of our results, we prove that the field of moduli of such a cover is at most tamely ramified at p.
With an explicit example, we confirm a conjecture by Neumann and Wahl that there exist cusps with no Galois cover by a complete intersection. Some computational techniques are reviewed, and a method for deciding whether a given cusp has a complete intersection Galois cover is developed.
We prove the existence of a Galois closure for towers of torsors under finite group schemes over a proper, geometrically connected and geometrically reduced algebraic stack $X$ over a field $k$. This is done by describing the Nori fundamental gerbe of an essentially finite cover of $X$. A similar result is also obtained for the $S$-fundamental gerbe.
We establish a connection between the theory of cyclotomic ideal class groups and the theory of "geometric" Galois modules and obtain results on the Galois module structure of coherent cohomology groups of Galois covers of varieties over Z. In particular, we show that an invariant that measures the obstruction to the existence of a virtual normal integral basis for the coherent cohomology of such covers is annihilated by a product of certain Bernoulli numbers with orders of even K-groups of Z. We also show that the existence of such a normal integral basis is closely connected to the truth of …
This paper is devoted to the explicit description of the Galois descent obstruction for hyperelliptic curves of arbitrary genus whose reduced automorphism group is cyclic of order coprime to the characteristic of their ground field. Along the way, we obtain an arithmetic criterion for the existence of a hyperelliptic descent. The obstruction is described by the so-called arithmetic dihedral invariants of the curves in question. If it vanishes, then the use of these invariants also allows the explicit determination of a model over the field of moduli; if not, then one obtains a hyperelliptic mo…
Let $f:X\to Y$ be a finite ramified Galois covering of algebraic varieties defined over the complex numbers. In this paper, we prove some structure theorems for such coverings in the case that the non-abelian Galois group of the cover is metabelian (in particular metacyclic). Our results extend the previous ones, obtained by several authors, in the case of abelian and dihedral Galois coverings. In analogy with the abelian (and generalizing the dihedral) case, we find "building data" of metabelian covers from which the cover can be reconstructed. In addition to analyzing several examples, we co…
Let $k$ be a totally real field, and let $A/k$ be an absolutely irreducible, polarized Abelian variety of odd, prime dimension whose endomorphisms are all defined over $k$. Then the only strictly compatible families of abstract, absolutely irreducible representations of $\gal(\ov{k}/k)$ coming from $A$ are tensor products of Tate twists of symmetric powers of two-dimensional $λ$-adic representations plus field automorphisms. The main ingredients of the proofs are the work of Borel and Tits on the `abstract' homomorphisms of almost simple algebraic groups, plus the work of Shimura on the fields…
We compute equivariant Euler characteristics of locally free sheaves on curves, thereby generalizing several results of Kani and Nakajima. For instance, we extend Kani's computation of the Galois module structure of the space of global meromorphic differentials which are logarithmic along the ramification locus from the tamely ramified to the weakly ramified case.
In this note we improve the theorem on Galois rational covers $X\dashrightarrow V$ for primitive Fano varieties $V$, recently proven by the author, in the two directions: we extend to the maximum the class of Galois groups $G$, for which the proof works, and relax the conditions that must be satisfied by the variety $V$ -- the divisorial canonicity alone is sufficient.
Michel Raynaud gave a criterion for a three-point G-cover f : Y \rightarrow X = P^1, defined over a p-adic field K, to have good reduction. In particular, if the order of a p-Sylow subgroup of G is p, and the number of conjugacy classes of elements of order p is greater than the absolute ramification index e of K, then f has potentially good reduction. We give a different proof of this criterion, which extends to the case where G has an arbitrarily large cyclic p-Sylow subgroup, answering a question of Raynaud. We then use the criterion to give a family of examples of three-point covers with g…
We study wildly ramified G-Galois covers $ϕ:Y \to X$ branched at B (defined over an algebraically closed field of characteristic p). We show that curves Y of arbitrarily high genus occur for such covers even when G, X, B and the inertia groups are fixed. The proof relies on a Galois action on covers of germs of curves and formal patching. As a corollary, we prove that for any nontrivial quasi-p group G and for any sufficiently large integer $σ$ with $p \nmid σ$, there exists a G-Galois étale cover of the affine line with conductor $σ$ above the point $\infty$.
Let $K$ be a field, let $G$ be a finite group, and let $\bar X\rightarrow \bar Y$ be a $G$-Galois branched cover of varieties over $K^{sep}$. Given a mere cover model $X\rightarrow Y$ of this cover over $K$, in Part I of this paper I observe that there is a unique minimal field $E$ over which $X\rightarrow Y$ becomes Galois, and I prove that $E/K$ is Galois with group a subgroup of $Aut(G)$. In Part II of this paper, by making the additional assumption that $K$ is a field of definition (i.e., that there exists \it some \rm Galois model over $K$), I am able to give an explicit description of th…
We interpret Galois covers in terms of particular monoidal functors, extending the correspondence between torsors and fiber functors. As applications we characterize tame $G$-covers between normal varieties for finite and étale group schemes and we prove that, if $G$ is a finite, flat and finitely presented nonabelian and linearly reductive group scheme over a ring, then the moduli stack of $G$-covers is reducible.
In 2017 Skabelund constructed two new examples of maximal curves $\tilde{\mathcal{S}}_q$ and $\tilde{\mathcal{R}}_q$ as covers of the Suzuki and Ree curves, respectively. The resulting Skabelund curves are analogous to the Giulietti-Korchmáros cover of the Hermitian curve. In this paper a complete characterization of all Galois subcovers of the Skabelund curves $\tilde{\mathcal{S}}_q$ and $\tilde{\mathcal{R}}_q$ is given. Calculating the genera of the corresponding curves, we find new additions to the list of known genera of maximal curves over finite fields.
Let G be a finite group and ρ: G--> End(E) be a group representation of G on a coherent sheaf over an integral scheme. The purpose of this paper shall give a decomposition theorem of such representations in non-splitting components and apply this results to the studie of Galois covers
For every odd prime number p, we give examples of non-constant smooth families of genus 2 curves over fields of characteristic p which have pro-Galois (pro-étale) covers of infinite degree with geometrically connected fibers. The Jacobians of the curves are isomorphic to products of elliptic curves.
This is the final paper in a series of four, concerning the surface $T \times T$ embedded in $\mathbb{CP}^8$, where $T$ is a the one dimensional torus. In this paper we compute the fundamental group of the Galois cover of the surface with respect to a generic projection onto $\mathbb{CP}^2$, and show that it is nilpotent of class 3. This is the first time such a group is presented as the fundamental group of a Galois cover of a surface.
A fine moduli space is constructed, for cyclic-by-$\mathsf{p}$ covers of an affine curve over an algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic $\mathsf{p}>0$. An intersection of finitely many fine moduli spaces for cyclic-by-$\mathsf{p}$ covers of affine curves gives a moduli space for $\mathsf{p}'$-by-$\mathsf{p}$ covers of an affine curve. A local moduli space is also constructed, for cyclic-by-$\mathsf{p}$ covers of $Spec(k((x)))$, which is the same as the global moduli space for cyclic-by-$\mathsf{p}$ covers of $\mathbb{P}^1-\{0\}$ tamely ramified over $\infty$ with the same Galois grou…
We enhance the analogy between field extensions and covering spaces by introducing the concept of splitting covering which correspondences to the splitting field in Galois theory. We define semi-topological Galois groups for Weierstrass polynomials and prove the existence of a Galois correspondence. This new tool enables us to study the inverse Galois problem from a new viewpoint.
