arXiv research

We provide a formula describing the G-module structure of the Hurwitz-Hodge bundle for admissible G-covers in terms of the Hodge bundle of the base curve, and more generally, for describing the G-module structure of the push-forward to the base of any sheaf on a family of admissible G-covers. This formula can be interp…

Develops tropical geometry for weighted Hurwitz numbers, generalizing previous results.

We study the Kähler geometry of the classical Hurwitz space $\mathcal{H}^{n,b}$ of simple branched coverings of the Riemann sphere $\mathbb{P}^1$ by compact hyperbolic Riemann surfaces. A generalized Weil-Petersson metric on the Hurwitz space was recently introduced. Deformations of simple branched coverings fit into t…

It is investigated Hurwitz numbers, that correspond to covering of disk with single non-simple boundary critical value. It is found differential equations, that describe a generating function for these numbers.

Analogue of classical Hurwitz numbers is defined in the work for regular coverings of surfaces with marked points by seamed surfaces. Class of surfaces includes surfaces of any genus and orientability, with or without boundaries; coverings may have certain singularities over the boundary and marked points. Seamed surfa…

Single Hurwitz numbers enumerate branched covers of the Riemann sphere with specified genus, prescribed ramification over infinity, and simple branching elsewhere. They exhibit a remarkably rich structure. In particular, they arise as intersection numbers on moduli spaces of curves and are governed by the topological r…

Classical Hurwitz numbers count branched covers of the Riemann sphere with prescribed ramification data, or equivalently, factorisations in the symmetric group with prescribed cycle structure data. Monotone Hurwitz numbers restrict the enumeration by imposing a further monotonicity condition on such factorisations. In …

We expand Topological Field Theory on some special CW-complexes (brane complexes). This Brane Topological Field Theory one-to-one corresponds to infinite dimensional Frobenius Algebras, graduated by CW-complexes of lesser dimension. We define general and regular Hurwitz numbers of brane complexes and prove that they ge…

In general, Hurwitz numbers count branched covers of the Riemann sphere with prescribed ramification data, or equivalently, factorisations in the symmetric group with prescribed cycle structure data. In this paper, we initiate the study of monotone orbifold Hurwitz numbers. These are simultaneously variations of the or…

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 equiva…

We study Hurwitz spaces with regard to homological stabilization. By a Hurwitz space, we mean a moduli space of branched, not necessarily connected coverings of a disk with fixed structure group and number of branch points. We choose a sequence of subspaces of Hurwitz spaces which is suitable for our investigations. In…

Given two closed orientable surfaces, the Hurwitz existence problem asks whether there exists a branched cover between them having prescribed global degree and local degrees over the branching points. The Riemann-Hurwitz formula gives a necessary condition, which was shown to be also sufficient when the base surface ha…

Compactifies the space of branched coverings of the sphere.

New partial solution to Hurwitz problem for surface branched covers.

To a branched cover between closed, connected and orientable surfaces one associates a "branch datum", which consists of the two surfaces, the total degree d, and the partitions of d given by the collections of local degrees over the branching points. This datum must satisfy the Riemann-Hurwitz formula. A "candidate su…

Consider the 1-dimensional Hurwitz space parameterizing covers of P^1 branched at four points. We study its intersection with divisor classes on the moduli space of curves. As an application, we calculate the slope of the Teichmuller curve parameterizing square-tiled cyclic covers and recover the sum of its Lyapunov ex…

New spin on Hurwitz theory connects to Gromov-Witten theory and topological recursion.

Classifies Teichmüller curves in specific hyperelliptic components of meromorphic differentials.

Solves a special case of the Hurwitz problem for Riemann surfaces.

We define a Chern-Simons invariant for a certain class of infinite volume hyperbolic 3-manifolds. We then prove an expression relating the Bergman tau function on a cover of the Hurwitz space, to the lifting of the function $F$ defined by Zograf on Teichmüller space, and another holomorphic function on the cover of the…

To a branched cover f between orientable surfaces one can associate a certain branch datum D(f), that encodes the combinatorics of the cover. This D(f) satisfies a compatibility condition called the Riemann-Hurwitz relation. The old but still partly unsolved Hurwitz problem asks whether for a given abstract compatible …

We consider the analogue of Hurwitz curves, smooth projective curves $C$ of genus $g \ge 2$ that realize equality in the Hurwitz bound $|\mathrm{Aut}(C)| \le 84 (g - 1)$, to smooth compact quotients $S$ of the unit ball in $\mathbb{C}^2$. When $S$ is arithmetic, we show that $|\mathrm{Aut}(S)| \le 288 e(S)$, where $e(S…

Branched covers between Riemann surfaces are associated with certain combinatorial data, and Hurwitz existence problem asks whether given data satisfying those combinatorial constraints can be realized by some branched cover. We connect recent development in spherical conic metrics to this old problem, and give a new m…

The paper provides a combinatorial criterion for realizing tropical pluri-canonical divisors.

We consider two applications of the strata of differentials of the second kind (all residues equal to zero) with fixed multiplicities of zeros and poles: Positivity: In genus $g=0$ we show any associated divisorial projection to $\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{0,n}$ is $F$-nef and hence conjectured to be nef. We compute the c…

We prove the quasimodularity of generating functions for counting pillowcase covers, with and without Siegel-Veech weight. Similar to prior work on torus covers, the proof is based on analyzing decompositions of half-translation surfaces into horizontal cylinders. It provides an alternative proof of the quasimodularity…

We continue our computation, using a combinatorial method based on Gronthendieck's dessins d'enfant, of the number of (weak) equivalence classes of surface branched covers matching certain specific branch data. In this note we concentrate on data with the surface of genus g as source surface, the sphere as target surfa…

For the existence of a branched covering Sigma~ --> Sigma between closed surfaces there are easy necessary conditions in terms of chi(Sigma~), chi(Sigma), orientability, the total degree, and the local degrees at the branching points. A classical problem dating back to Hurwitz asks whether these conditions are also suf…

We give an asymptotic probabilistic real Riemann-Hurwitz formula computing the expected real ramification index of a random covering over the Riemann sphere. More generally, we study the asymptotic expected number and distribution of critical points of a random real Lefschetz pencil over a smooth real algebraic variety…

We define a new Hurwitz problem which is essentially a small core of the simple Hurwitz problem. The corresponding Hurwitz numbers have simpler formulae, satisfy effective recursion relations and determine the simple Hurwitz numbers. We also apply this idea of finding a smaller simpler enumerative problem to orbifold H…

Study braid group actions on exceptional sequences using branched coverings.

Study linear subvarieties of meromorphic differential strata, proving toric closures and new proofs of theorems.

The paper explores rational functions with 3 branching points on the Riemann sphere.

We give a tropical interpretation of Hurwitz numbers extending the one discovered in \cite{CJM}. In addition we treat a generalization of Hurwitz numbers for surfaces with boundary which we call open Hurwitz numbers.

The Hurwitz problem asks which ramification data are realizable, that is appear as the ramification type of a covering. We use dessins d'enfant to show that families of genus 1 regular ramification data with small changes are realizable with the exception of four families which were recently shown to be nonrealizable. …

For a given bundle $ξ\colon E \to M$ over a manifold, configuration-section spaces on $ξ$ parametrise finite subsets $z \subseteq M$ equipped with a section of $ξ$ defined on $M \smallsetminus z$, with prescribed "charge" in a neighbourhood of the points $z$. These spaces may be interpreted physically as spaces of fiel…

Refines Hurwitz numbers with a two-parameter theory.

Our aim in this paper is to provide a theory of discrete Riemann surfaces based on quadrilateral cellular decompositions of Riemann surfaces together with their complex structure encoded by complex weights. Previous work, in particular of Mercat, mainly focused on real weights corresponding to quadrilateral cells havin…

The classical Hurwitz numbers of degree n together with the Hurwitz numbers of the seamed surfaces of degree n give rise to the Klein topological field theory. We extend this construction to the Hurwitz numbers of all degrees at once. The corresponding Cardy-Frobenius algebra is induced by arbitrary Young diagrams and …

Classifies orbits of Hurwitz actions on dihedral quandles.

For a branched cover between two closed orientable surfaces, the Riemann-Hurwitz formula relates the Euler characteristics of the surfaces, the total degree of the cover, and the total length of the partitions of the degree given by the local degrees at the preimages of the branching points. A very old problem asks whe…

The natural automorphism group of a translation surface is its group of translations. For finite translation surfaces of genus g > 1 the order of this group is naturally bounded in terms of g due to a Riemann-Hurwitz formula argument. In analogy with classical Hurwitz surfaces, we call surfaces which achieve the maxima…

Motivated by the algebraic open-closed string models, we introduce and discuss an infinite-dimensional counterpart of the open-closed Hurwitz theory describing branching coverings generated both by the compact oriented surfaces and by the foam surfaces. We manifestly construct the corresponding infinite-dimensional equ…

Study of large group actions on surfaces, focusing on Hurwitz and handlebody groups.

We compute the number of (weak) equivalence classes of branched covers from a surface of genus g to the sphere, with 3 branching points, degree 2k, and local degrees over the branching points of the form (2,...,2), (2h+1,1,2,...,2), (d_1,...,d_m), for several values of g and h. We obtain explicit formulae of arithmetic…

Invariants defined for braid systems under Hurwitz equivalence.

Study asymptotics of one part monotone Hurwitz numbers in high genus.

The paper describes a stratification of a compactified Hurwitz space using combinatorial trees.