On Hurwitz spaces of coverings with one special fiber (Q1011639)

Let \(Y\) be a closed Riemann surface of genus \(g \geq 0\) and let \(n \geq 0\), \(d \geq 1\) and \(e=(e_{1},...,e_{r})\) be a decomposition of \(d\). The Hurwitz space \(H_{d,n}(Y)\) (respectively, \(H_{d,n}^{0}(Y)\)) is the space that parametrizes degree \(d\) coverings of \(Y\) which are simply branched at \(n\) points (respectively, the space that parametrizes degree \(d\) coverings of \(Y\), with monodromy \({\mathfrak S}_{d}\), which are simply branched at \(n\) points). Hurwitz proved that \(H_{d,n}({\mathbb P}^{1})\) is irreducible and, if \(g \geq 1\), then \textit{I. Berstein} and \textit{A. L. Edmonds} [Ill. J. Math. 28, 64-82 (1984; Zbl 0551.57001)] proved the irreducibility of \(H_{d,n}^{0}(Y)\). The Hurwitz space \(H_{d,n,e}(Y)\) (respectively, \(H_{d,n,e}^{0}(Y)\)) is the space that parametrizes degree \(d\) coverings of \(Y\) which are simple branched at \(n\) points and also branched at another extra special point whose local monodromy has cycle type given by the partition \(e\) (respectively, is the space that parametrizes degree \(d\) coverings of \(Y\), with monodromy \({\mathfrak S}_{d}\), which are simple branched at \(n\) points and also branched at another extra special point whose local monodromy has cycle type given by the partition \(e\)). \textit{S. M. Natanzon} [Sel. Math. Sov. 12, No. 3, 251--291 (1993; Zbl 0801.30034); translation from Tr. Semin. Vektorn. Tenzorn. Anal. 23, 79--103 (1988) and ibid. 24, 104-132 (1991)] and \textit{P. Kluitmann} [Contemp. Math. 78, 299--325 (1988; Zbl 0701.20019)] have proved that \(H_{d,n,e}({\mathbb P}^{1})\) is irreducible. Kanev and the author proved that, if \(g \geq 1\), then \(H_{d,n,e}^{0}(Y)\) is irreducible. In the paper under review, the author considers degree \(2d\) coverings \(P:X \to Y\), where \(P\) factors as \(P=f \circ \pi\), where \(\pi:X \to X'\) is a two-fold cover and \(f:X' \to Y\) is a degree \(d\) cover, with monodromy \({\mathfrak S}_{d}\), having \(n\) simply branched points and another extra branch special point whose local monodromy has cycle \(e\). It is known that the Hurwitz space of such type of coverings, when \(\pi\) is branched and \(Y={\mathbb P}^{1}\), is irreducible. In the paper, the author proves that, if the monodromy of \(P\) is either \(W(B_{d})\), the Weyl group of type \(B_{d}\), or conjugates in \(W(B_{d})\) of the the normalizer of the subgroup generated by reflections with respect to the long roots \(\epsilon_{i}-\epsilon_{j}\), then the corresponding Hurwitz spaces are not irreducible. Moreover, if \(|e|=e_{1}+ \cdots +e_{r}\), then the number of components is equal to \(2^{2g}-1\) if \(n+|e| \geq 2d\).