Moduli spaces and braid monodromy types of bidouble covers of the quadric

Bidouble covers $\pi : S \mapsto Q$ of the quadric Q are parametrized by connected families depending on four positive integers a,b,c,d. In the special case where b=d we call them abc-surfaces. Such a Galois covering $\pi$ admits a small perturbation yielding a general 4-tuple covering of Q with branch curve \De, and a natural Lefschetz fibration obtained from a small perturbation of the composition of $\pi$ with the first projection. We prove a more general result implying that the braid monodromy factorization corresponding to \De determines the three integers a,b,c in the case of abc-surfaces. We introduce a new method in order to distinguish factorizations which are not stably equivalent. This result is in sharp contrast with a previous result of the first and third author, showing that the mapping class group factorizations corresponding to the respective natural Lefschetz pencils are equivalent for abc-surfaces with the same values of a+c, b. This result hints at the possibility that abc-surfaces with fixed values of a+c, b, although diffeomorphic but not deformation equivalent, might be not canonically symplectomorphic.Comment: 38 pages, showkeys command cancelled with

Fibred K"ahler and quasi-projective Groups

We formulate a new theorem giving several necessary and sufficient conditions in order that a surjection of the fundamental group $\pi_1(X)$ of a compact K\"ahler manifold onto the fundamental group $\Pi_g$ of a compact Riemann surface of genus $g \geq 2$ be induced by a holomorphic map. For instance, it suffices that the kernel be finitely generated. We derive as a corollary a restriction for a group $G$, fitting into an exact sequence 1 \ra H \ra G \ra \Pi_g \ra 1, where $H$ is finitely generated, to be the fundamental group of a compact K\"ahler manifold. Thanks to the extension by Bauer and Arapura of the Castelnuovo de Franchis theorem to the quasi-projective case (more generally, to Zariski open sets of compact K\"ahler manifolds) we first extend the previous result to the non compact case. We are finally able to give a topological characterization of quasi-projective surfaces which are fibred over a (quasi-projective) curve by a proper holomorphic map of maximal rank.Comment: 16 pages, to appear in Advances in Geometry (2003), Volume in honour of the 80-th birthday of Adriano Barlott