Realizing alternating groups as monodromy groups of genus one covers

Abstract

We prove that if <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="n greater-than-or-equal-to 4"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>n</mml:mi> <mml:mo> ≥ </mml:mo> <mml:mn>4</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">n\geq 4</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> , a generic Riemann surface of genus 1 admits a meromorphic function (i.e., an analytic branched cover of <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="double-struck upper P Superscript 1"> <mml:semantics> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="double-struck">P</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">\mathbb {P}^{1}</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> ) of degree <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="n"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mi>n</mml:mi> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">n</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> such that every branch point has multiplicity <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="3"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">3</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> and the monodromy group is the alternating group <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper A Subscript n"> <mml:semantics> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>A</mml:mi> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi>n</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">A_{n}</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> . To prove this theorem, we construct a Hurwitz space and show that it maps (generically) onto the genus one moduli space.