International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences
Volume 2008 (2008), Article ID 609425, 18 pages
doi:10.1155/2008/609425

One-dimensional Hurwitz spaces, modular curves, and real forms of Belyi meromorphic functions

Antonio F. Costa1 , Milagros Izquierdo2 and Gonzalo Riera3

1Departamento de Matemáticas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Senda del rey, 9, 28040 Madrid, Spain
2Matematiska Institutionen, Linköpings Universitet, 581 83 Linköping, Sweden
3Facultad de Matemáticas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile

Abstract

Hurwitz spaces are spaces of pairs (S,f) where S is a Riemann surface and f:S^ a meromorphic function. In this work, we study 1-dimensional Hurwitz spaces Dp of meromorphic p-fold functions with four branched points, three of them fixed; the corresponding monodromy representation over each branched point is a product of (p1)/2 transpositions and the monodromy group is the dihedral group Dp. We prove that the completion Dp¯ of the Hurwitz space Dp is uniformized by a non-nomal index p+1 subgroup of a triangular group with signature (0;[p,p,p]). We also establish the relation of the meromorphic covers with elliptic functions and show that Dp is a quotient of the upper half plane by the modular group Γ(2)Γ0(p). Finally, we study the real forms of the Belyi projection Dp¯^ and show that there are two nonbicoformal equivalent such real forms which are topologically conjugated.