Regular dessins with a given automorphism group

Dessins d'enfants are combinatorial structures on compact Riemann surfaces defined over algebraic number fields, and regular dessins are the most symmetric of them. If G is a finite group, there are only finitely many regular dessins with automorphism group G. It is shown how to enumerate them, how to represent them all as quotients of a single regular dessin U(G), and how certain hypermap operations act on them. For example, if G is a cyclic group of order n then U(G) is a map on the Fermat curve of degree n and genus (n-1)(n-2)/2. On the other hand, if G=A_5 then U(G) has genus 274218830047232000000000000000001. For other non-abelian finite simple groups, the genus is much larger.Comment: 19 page

On computing Belyi maps

We survey methods to compute three-point branched covers of the projective line, also known as Belyi maps. These methods include a direct approach, involving the solution of a system of polynomial equations, as well as complex analytic methods, modular forms methods, and p-adic methods. Along the way, we pose several questions and provide numerous examples.Comment: 57 pages, 3 figures, extensive bibliography; English and French abstract; revised according to referee's suggestion

Numerical calculation of three-point branched covers of the projective line

We exhibit a numerical method to compute three-point branched covers of the complex projective line. We develop algorithms for working explicitly with Fuchsian triangle groups and their finite index subgroups, and we use these algorithms to compute power series expansions of modular forms on these groups.Comment: 58 pages, 24 figures; referee's comments incorporate

Universal abelian covers of superisolated singularities

We give explicit examples of Gorenstein surface singularities with integral homology sphere link, which are not complete intersections. Their existence was shown by Luengo-Velasco, Melle-Hernandez and Nemethi, thereby providing counterexamples to the Universal abelian covering conjecture of Neumann and Wahl.Comment: Some examples and explanations added; updated version. 23 page

On surfaces of general type with pg=q=1,K2=3p_g=q=1, K^2=3

The moduli space $\mathscr{M}$ of surfaces of general type with $p_g=q=1, K^2=g=3$ (where $g$ is the genus of the Albanese fibration) was constructed by Catanese and Ciliberto in \cite{CaCi93}. In this paper we characterize the subvariety $\mathscr{M}_2 \subset \mathscr{M}$ corresponding to surfaces containing a genus 2 pencil, and moreover we show that there exists a non-empty, dense subset $\mathscr{M}^0 \subset \mathscr{M}$ which parametrizes isomorphism classes of surfaces with birational bicanonical map.Comment: 35 pages. To appear in Collectanea Mathematic

Zeta functions of quantum graphs

In this article we construct zeta functions of quantum graphs using a contour integral technique based on the argument principle. We start by considering the special case of the star graph with Neumann matching conditions at the center of the star. We then extend the technique to allow any matching conditions at the center for which the Laplace operator is self-adjoint and finally obtain an expression for the zeta function of any graph with general vertex matching conditions. In the process it is convenient to work with new forms for the secular equation of a quantum graph that extend the well known secular equation of the Neumann star graph. In the second half of the article we apply the zeta function to obtain new results for the spectral determinant, vacuum energy and heat kernel coefficients of quantum graphs. These have all been topics of current research in their own right and in each case this unified approach significantly expands results in the literature.Comment: 32 pages, typos corrected, references adde

Length spectra and degeneration of flat metrics

In this paper we consider flat metrics (semi-translation structures) on surfaces of finite type. There are two main results. The first is a complete description of when a set of simple closed curves is spectrally rigid, that is, when the length vector determines a metric among the class of flat metrics. Secondly, we give an embedding into the space of geodesic currents and use this to get a boundary for the space of flat metrics. The geometric interpretation is that flat metrics degenerate to "mixed structures" on the surface: part flat metric and part measured foliation.Comment: 36 page