Moduli spaces for Galois covers of p-adic Mumford curves by Mumford curves are constructed using Herrlich's Teichmuller spaces, Andre's orbifold fundamental groups, and Kato's graphs of groups encoding ramification data of charts for Mumford orbifolds.
We introduce stable tropical curves and use these to count covers of the $p$-adic projective line of fixed degree and ramification types by Mumford curves in terms of tropical Hurwitz numbers. Our counts depend on the branch loci of the covers.
Given a finite morphism $φ:Y\to X$ of quasi-smooth Berkovich curves over a complete, algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic $0$, we prove a Riemann-Hurwitz formula relating their Euler-Poincaré characteristics (calculated using De Rham cohomology of their overconvergent structure sheaf). The main tools are $p$-adic Runge's theorem together with valuation polygons of analytic functions. Using the results obtained, we provide another point of view on Riemann-Hurwitz formula for finite morphisms of curves over algebraically closed fields of positive characteristic.
We study finite groups of automorphisms of the $p$-adic open disk. In particular, we generalize results of Green, Matignon and Henrio from cyclic groups of order $p$ to arbitrary finite groups. As an application, we produce a counterexample to a question of Chinburg, Guralnick and Harbater, concerning the local lifting problem for generalized quaternion groups.
Hurwitz numbers are a weighted count of degree d ramified covers of curves with specified ramification profiles at marked points on the codomain curve. Isomorphism classes of these covers can be included as a dense open set in a moduli space, called a Hurwitz space. The Hurwitz space has a forgetful morphism to the moduli space of marked, stable curves, and the degree of this morphism encodes the Hurwitz numbers. Mikhalkin has constructed a moduli space of tropical marked, stable curves, and this space is a tropical variety. In this paper, I construct a tropical analogue of the Hurwitz space i…
The Maroni stratification on the Hurwitz space of degree $d$ covers of genus $g$ has a stratum that is a divisor only if $d-1$ divides $g$. Here we construct a stratification on the Hurwitz space that is analogous to the Maroni stratification, but has a divisor for all pairs $(d,g)$ with $d \leq g$ with a few exceptions and we calculate the divisor class of an extension of these divisors to the compactified Hurwitz space.
We introduce a natural structure of a semigroup (isomorphic to a factorization semigroup of the unity in the symmetric group) on the set of irreducible components of Hurwitz space of marked degree $d$ coverings of $\mathbb P^1$ of fixed ramification types. It is proved that this semigroup is finitely presented. The problem when collections of ramification types define uniquely the corresponding irreducible components of the Hurwitz space is investigated. In particular, the set of irreducible components of the Hurwitz space of three-sheeted coverings of the projective line is completely describ…
We prove that the rational Picard group of the simple Hurwitz space ${\mathcal H}_{d,g}$ is trivial for $d$ up to five. We also relate the rational Picard groups of the Hurwitz spaces to the rational Picard groups of the Severi varieties of nodal curves on Hirzebruch surfaces.
We investigate two families of divisors which we expect to play a distinguished role in the global geometry of Hurwitz space. In particular, we show that they are extremal and rigid in the small degree regime $d \leq 5$. We further show their significance in the problem of computing the sweeping slope of Hurwitz space in these degrees. In the process, we prove various general results about the divisor theory of Hurwitz space, including a proof of the independence of the boundary components of the admissible covers compactification. Some basic open questions and further directions are discussed…
The Hurwitz space is a compactification of the space of rational functions of a given degree. The Lyashko-Looijenga map assigns to a rational function the set of its critical values. It is known that the number of ramified coverings of CP^1 by CP^1 with prescribed ramification points and ramification types is related to the degree of the Lyashko--Looijenga map on various strata of the Hurwitz space. Here we explain how the degree of the Lyashko-Looijenga map is related to the intersection theory on this space. We describe the cohomology algebra of the Hurwitz space and prove several relations …
We compute the stable reduction of some Galois covers of the projective line branched at three points. These covers are constructed using Hurwitz spaces parameterizing metacyclic covers. The reduction is determined by a hypergeometric differential equation. This generalizes the result of Deligne- Rapoport on the reduction of the modular curve X(p).
We compute the Picard groups with integral coefficients of the Hurwitz stacks parametrizing degree $4$ and $5$ covers of $\mathbb{P}^1$. As a consequence, we also determine the integral Picard groups of the Hurwitz stacks parametrizing simply branched covers. For simple branching, the Picard groups are finite, with order depending on the genus.
In this paper we prove that the Hurwitz space H_{9,8}, which parameterizes 8-sheeted covers of P^1 by curves of genus 9, is unirational. Our construction leads to an explicit Macaulay2 code, which will randomly produce a nodal curve of degree 8 of geometric genus 9 with 12 double points and together with a pencil of degree 8.
By associating to a curve C of genus g=2k and a pencil of degree d=k+1 the so-called trace curve (resp. the reduced trace curve) we define a rational map from the Hurwitz space of admissible covers of genus g=2k and degree d=k+1 to a moduli space of stable curves. We study the induced map between the divisor class groups of these moduli spaces of curves.
In 2009 Kokotov, Korotkin and Zograf gave a formula for the class of the Hodge bundle on the Hurwitz space of admissible covers of genus g and degree d of the projective line. They gave an analytic proof of it. In this note we give an algebraic proof and an extension of the result.
We construct several modular compactifications of the Hurwitz space $H^d_{g/h}$ of genus $g$ curves expressed as $d$-sheeted, simply branched covers of genus $h$ curves. These compactifications are obtained by allowing the branch points of the covers to collide to a variable extent. They are very well-behaved if $d = 2, 3$, or if relatively few collisions are allowed. We recover as special cases the spaces of twisted admissible covers of Abramovich, Corti and Vistoli and the spaces of hyperelliptic curves of Fedorchuk.
In this short note we prove the unirationality of Hurwitz spaces of 6-gonal curves of genus $g$ with $5\leq g\leq 28$ or $g=30,31,33,35,36,40,45$. Key ingredient is a liaison construction in $\PP^1 \times \PP^2$. By semicontinuity, the proof of the dominance of this construction is reduced to a computation of a single curve over a finite field.
We study the components of the Hurwitz scheme of ramified coverings of $\mathbb{P}^1$ with monodromy given by the alternating group $A_6$ and elements in the conjugacy class of product of two disjoint cycles. In order to detect the connected components of the Hurwitz scheme, inspired by the case of the spin structures studied by Fried for the $3$-cycles, we use as invariant the lifting to the Valentiner group, triple covering of $A_6$. We prove that the Hurwitz scheme has two irreducible components when the genus of the covering is greater than zero, in accordance with the asymptotic solution …
We describe a sequence of effective divisors on the Hurwitz space $H_{d,g}$ for $d$ dividing $g-1$ and compute their cycle classes on a partial compactification. These divisors arise from vector bundles of syzygies canonically associated to a branched cover. We find that the cycle classes are all proportional to each other.
Let $Y$ be a smooth, projective curve of genus $g\geq 1$ over the complex numbers. Let $H^0_{d,A}(Y)$ be the Hurwitz space which parametrizes coverings $p:X \to Y$ of degree $d$, simply branched in $n=2e$ points, with monodromy group equal to $S_d$, and $det(p_{*}O_X/O_Y)$ isomorphic to a fixed line bundle $A^{-1}$ of degree $-e$. We prove that, when $d=3, 4$ or $5$ and $n$ is sufficiently large (precise bounds are given), these Hurwitz spaces are unirational. If in addition $(e,2)=1$ (when $d=3$), $(e,6)=1$ (when $d=4$) and $(e,10)=1$ (when $d=5$), then these Hurwitz spaces are rational.
We calculate the cycle class of the Hurwitz divisor $D_2$ on the moduli space of stable curves of genus $g=2k$ given by the degree $k+1$ covers of the projective line with simple ramification points, two of which lie in the same fibre. We also study some aspects of the geometry of the natural map of the Hurwitz space of admissible covers of degree $k+1$ and genus $2k$ to the moduli space of stable curves of genus $2k$.
In this paper we study the reduction of Galois covers of curves, from characteristic 0 to characteristic p. The starting point is a is a recent result of Raynaud which gives a criterion for good reduction for covers of the projective line branch at 3 points. Under some condition on the Galois group, we extend this criterion to the case of 4 branch points. Moreover, we describe the reduction of the Hurwitz space of such covers and compute the number of covers with good reduction.
Let q>1 denote an integer relatively prime to 2,3,7 and for which G=PSL(2,q) is a Hurwitz group for a smooth projective curve X defined over C. We compute the G-module structure of the Riemann-Roch space L(D), where D is an invariant divisor on X of positive degree. This depends on a computation of the ramification module, which we give explicitly. In particular, we obtain the decomposition of H^1(X,C) as a G-module.
The main goal of this paper is to introduce the notion of a primitive form for a generic family of Hurwitz covers of $\mathbb{P}^1$ with a fixed ramification profile over infinity. We prove that primitive forms are in one-to-one correspondence with semi-simple Frobenius structures on the base of the family. Furthermore, we introduce the notion of a polynomial primitive form and show that the corresponding class of Frobenius manifolds contains the Hurwitz Frobenius manifolds of Dubrovin. Finally, we apply our theory to investigate the relation between the Eynard--Orantin recursion and Frobenius…
One can easily show that any meromorphic function on a complex closed Riemann surface can be represented as a composition of a birational map of this surface to CP^2 and a projection of the image curve from an appropriate point p in CP^2 to the pencil of lines through p. We introduce a natural stratification of Hurwitz spaces according to the minimal degree of a plane curve such that a given meromorphic function can be represented in the above way and calculate the dimensions of these strata.
The Hurwitz form of a variety is the discriminant that characterizes linear spaces of complementary dimension which intersect the variety in fewer than degree many points. We study computational aspects of the Hurwitz form, relate this to the dual variety and Chow form, and show why reduced degenerations are special on the Hurwitz polytope.
This article is an extended version of preprint math.AG/9902104. We find an explicit formula for the number of topologically different ramified coverings of a sphere by a genus g surface with only one complicated branching point in terms of Hodge integrals over the moduli space of genus g curves with marked points.
We prove that the moduli space A_3(1,1,4) of polarized abelian threefolds with polarization of type (1,1,4) is unirational. By a result of Birkenhake and Lange this implies the unirationality of the isomorphic moduli space A_3(1,4,4). The result is based on the study the Hurwitz space H_{4,n}(Y) of quadruple coverings of an elliptic curve Y simply branched in n points. We prove the unirationality of its codimension one subvariety H^{0}_{4,A}(Y) which parametrizes quadruple coverings π:X --> Y with Tschirnhausen modules isomorphic to A^{-1}, where A\in Pic^{n/2}Y, and for which π^*:J(Y)--> J(X)…
We give conditions for the monodromy group of a Hurwitz space over the configuration space of branch points to be the full alternating or symmetric group on the degree. Specializing the resulting coverings suggests the existence of many number fields with full Galois group and surprisingly little ramification --- for example, the existence of infinitely many such number fields unramified away from {2,3,5}.
This survey grew out of notes accompanying a cycle of lectures at the workshop Modern Trends in Gromov-Witten Theory, in Hannover. The lectures are devoted to interactions between Hurwitz theory and Gromov-Witten theory, with a particular eye to the contributions made to the understanding of the Double Ramification Cycle, a cycle in the moduli space of curves that compactifies the double Hurwitz locus. We explore the algebro-combinatorial properties of single and double Hurwitz numbers, and the connections with intersection theoretic problems on appropriate moduli spaces. We survey several res…
Ekedahl, Lando, Shapiro, and Vainshtein announced a remarkable formula expressing Hurwitz numbers (counting covers of the projective line with specified simple branch points, and specified branching over one other point) in terms of Hodge integrals. We give a proof of this formula using virtual localization on the moduli space of stable maps, and describe how the proof could be simplified by the proper algebro-geometric definition of a "relative space".
While there is much work and many conjectures surrounding the intersection theory of the moduli space of curves, relatively little is known about the intersection theory of the Hurwitz space $\mathcal{H}_{k, g}$ parametrizing smooth degree $k$, genus $g$ covers of $\mathbb{P}^1$. Let $k = 3, 4, 5$. We prove that the rational Chow rings of $\mathcal{H}_{k,g}$ stabilize in a suitable sense as $g$ tends to infinity. In the case $k = 3$, we completely determine the Chow rings for all $g$. We also prove that the rational Chow groups of the simply branched Hurwitz space $\mathcal{H}^s_{k,g} \subset …
Hodge classes on the moduli space of admissible covers with monodromy group G are associated to irreducible representations of G. We evaluate all linear Hodge integrals over moduli spaces of admissible covers with abelian monodromy in terms of multiplication in an associated wreath group algebra. In case G is cyclic and the representation is faithful, the evaluation is in terms of double Hurwitz numbers. In case G is trivial, the formula specializes to the well-known result of Ekedahl-Lando-Shapiro-Vainshtein for linear Hodge integrals over the moduli space of curves in terms of single Hurwitz…
We describe the hyperplane sections of the Severi variety of curves in $E \times \mathbb{P}^1$ in a similar fashion to Caporaso-Harris' seminal work. From this description we almost get a recursive formula for the Severi degrees (we get the terms, but not the coefficients). As an application, we determine the components of the Hurwitz space of simply branched covers of a genus one curve. In return, we use this characterization to describe the components of the Severi variety of curves in $E \times \mathbb{P}^1$, in a restricted range of degrees.
Moduli spaces of algebraic curves and closely related to them Hurwitz spaces, that is, spaces of meromorphic functions on the curves, arise naturally in numerous problems of algebraic geometry and mathematical physics, especially in relationship with the string theory and Gromov--Witten invariants. In particular, the classical Hurwitz problem about enumeration of topologically distinct ramified coverings of the sphere with prescribed ramification type reduces to the study of geometry and topology of these spaces. The cohomology rings of such spaces are complicated even in the simplest cases of…
We prove that the moduli spaces A_3(D) of polarized abelian threefolds with polarizations of types D=(1,1,2), (1,2,2), (1,1,3) or (1,3,3) are unirational. The result is based on the study of families of simple coverings of elliptic curves of degree 2 or 3 and on the study of the corresponding period mappings associated with holomorphic differentials with trace 0. In particular we prove the unirationality of the Hurwitz space H_{3,A}(Y) which parameterizes simply branched triple coverings of an elliptic curve Y with determinants of the Tschirnhausen modules isomorphic to A^{-1}.
In the Hurwitz space of rational functions on CP^1 with poles of given orders, we study the loci of multisingularities, that is, the loci of functions with a given ramification profile over 0. We prove a recursion relation on the Poincare dual cohomology classes of these loci and deduce a differential equation on Hurwitz numbers.
Let $\mathcal{H}_{k,g}$ be the Hurwitz stack parametrizing degree $k$, genus $g$ covers of $\mathbb{P}^1$. We define the tautological ring of $\mathcal{H}_{k,g}$ and we show that all Chow classes, except possibly those supported on the locus of "factoring covers," are tautological up to codimension roughly $g/k$ when $k \leq 5$. The set-up developed here is also used in our subsequent work, wherein we prove new results about the structure of the Chow ring for $k \leq 5$.
In this paper we describe explicit generating functions for a large class of Hurwitz-Hodge integrals. These are integrals of tautological classes on moduli spaces of admissible covers, a (stackily) smooth compactification of the Hurwitz schemes. Admissible covers and their tautological classes are interesting mathematical objects on their own, but recently they have proved to be a useful tool for the study of the tautological ring of the moduli space of curves, and the orbifold Gromov-Witten theory of DM stacks. Our main tool is Atiyah-Bott localization: its underlying philosophy is to transla…
The \it critical filtration \rm of a Hurwitz space stratifies it according to the number of the critical values; the \it Belyi pairs \rm (three critical values) are considered as the 0-dimensional strata of these filtrations. The 1-dimensional strata (four critical values) are also considered, and their irreducible components correspond to \it Fried families\rm, the introduction of which is one of the central concepts of the paper. The Belyi function on the base of a Fried family is another central concept, which is introduced and illustrated by several examples of low degree. The paper sugges…
Let $ϕ$ be a post-critically finite branched covering of a two-sphere. By work of Koch, the Thurston pullback map induced by $ϕ$ on Teichmüller space descends to a multi-valued self-map --- a Hurwitz correspondence $\mathcal{H}_ϕ$ --- of the moduli space $\mathcal{M}_{0,P}$. We study the dynamics of Hurwitz correspondences via numerical invariants called dynamical degrees. We show that the sequence of dynamical degrees of $\mathcal{H}_ϕ$ is always non-increasing, and the behavior of this sequence is constrained by the behavior of $ϕ$ at and near points of its post-critical set.
The Hurwitz space is a compactification of the space of rational functions of a given degree. We study the intersection of various strata of this space with its boundary. A study of the cohomology ring of the Hurwitz space then allows us to obtain recurrence relations for certain numbers of ramified coverings of a sphere by a sphere with prescribed ramifications. Generating functions for these numbers belong to a very particular subalgebra of the algebra of power series.
We define hypergeometric functions using intersection homology valued in a local system. Topology is emphasized; analysis enters only once, via the Hodge decomposition. By a pull-back procedure we construct special subsets S_{pi}, derived from Hurwitz spaces, of Deligne-Mostow moduli spaces DM(n,mu). Certain DM(n,mu) are known to be ball quotients, uniformized by hypergeometric functions valued in a complex ball (i.e., complex hyperbolic space). We give sufficient conditions for S_{pi} to be a subball quotient. Analyzing the simplest examples in detail, we describe ball quotient structures att…
We study the irreducible components of special loci of curves whose group of symmetries is given as certain group extension. We introduce some relative Hurwitz data, which we show by using mixed étale cohomology theory, identifies some irreducible components for rational and normal non-abelian special loci and Hurwitz spaces. A heuristic, that is supported by three classes of examples, provides an additional context for building further irreducible loci.
We propose two conjectures on Huwritz numbers with completed $(r+1)$-cycles, or, equivalently, on certain relative Gromov-Witten invariants of the projective line. The conjectures are analogs of the ELSV formula and of the Bouchard-Mariño conjecture for ordinary Hurwitz numbers. Our $r$-ELSV formula is an equality between a Hurwitz number and an integral over the space of $r$-spin structures, that is, the space of stable curves with an $r$th root of the canonical bundle. Our $r$-BM conjecture is the statement that $n$-point functions for Hurwitz numbers satisfy the topological recursion associ…
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.
Let $f\colon C \rightarrow \mathbb{P}^1$ be a degree $k$ genus $g$ cover. The stratification of line bundles $L \in \mathrm{Pic}^d(C)$ by the splitting type of $f_*L$ is a refinement of the stratification by Brill-Noether loci $W^r_d(C)$. We prove that for general degree $k$ covers, these strata are smooth of the expected dimension. In particular, this determines the dimensions of all irreducible components of $W^r_d(C)$ for a general $k$-gonal curve (there are often components of different dimensions), extending results of Pflueger and Jensen-Ranganathan. The results here apply over any algeb…
We investigate the universal Jacobian of degree n line bundles over the Hurwitz stack of double covers of P^1 by a curve of genus g. Our main results are: the construction of a smooth, irreducible, universally closed (but not separated) moduli compactification of this universal Jacobian; a description of the global geometry and moduli properties of these stacks; and a computation of the Picard groups of these stacks in the cases when n-g is even. An important ingredient of our work is the parametrization of line bundles on double covers by binary quadratic forms. This parametrization generaliz…
We determine the cycle classes of effective divisors in the compactified Hurwitz spaces of curves of genus g with a linear system of degree d that extend the Maroni divisors on the open Hurwitz space. Our approach uses Chern classes associated to a global-to-local evaluation map of a vector bundle over a generic $P^1$-bundle over the Hurwitz space.
We prove the irreducibility of the Hurwitz spaces which parametrize Galois coverings of P^1 whose Galois group is an arbitrary Weyl group and the local monodromies are reflections. This generalizes a classical theorem due to Clebsch and Hurwitz.
Starting from a beautiful idea of Kanev, we construct a uniformization of the moduli space A_6 of principally polarized abelian 6-folds in terms of curves and monodromy data. We show that the general ppav of dimension 6 is a Prym-Tyurin variety corresponding to a degree 27 cover of the projective line having monodromy the Weyl group of the E_6 lattice. Along the way, we establish numerous facts concerning the geometry of the Hurwitz space of such E_6-covers, including: (1) a proof that the canonical class of the Hurwitz space is big, (2) a concrete geometric description of the Hodge-Hurwitz ei…