Galois quotients of tropical curves and invariant linear systems (Q2105257)

In algebraic geometry, embeddings of curves into projective space are defined via linear systems. A similar concept is known in tropical geometry, where the notion of an algebraic curve gets replaced by the notion of a \textit{tropical curve}, i.e. a finite metric graph. More concretely, given a tropical curve \(\Gamma\), a divisor \(D\), and a finite generating set \(F = \{f_0, \ldots, f_n\}\) of the space \(R(D)\) consisting of piecewise linear functions with pole orders bounded by \(D\), then we obtain a rational map \begin{align*} \phi_F : \Gamma &\longrightarrow \mathbb{T}\mathbb{P}^n \\ x &\longmapsto \big(f_0(x) : \ldots : f_n(x) \big). \end{align*} In the present article, the authors studies this situation under the additional information of an action of a finite group \(K\) on \(\Gamma\). Similar to the above, a finite generating set \(F = \{f_i\}_i\) of the space of \(K\)-invariant PL functions \(R(D)^K \subseteq R(D)\) gives a rational map \(\phi_F\) to tropical projective space. As a first theorem, the author shows that \(\phi_F\) exhibits \(\Gamma\) as a \(K\)-Galois cover of \(\phi_F(\Gamma)\) if and only if \(\phi_F\) is injective on the level of \(K\)-orbits. Here, a \textit{\(K\)-Galois cover} of tropical curves is a harmonic morphism \(\Gamma \to \Gamma'\) of degree \(|K|\), together with a \(K\)-action on \(\Gamma\), such that the morphism is the quotient map modulo \(K\). As a second theorem, the author shows that the required injectivity is actually automatic as long as \(D\) is effective, \(K\)-invariant, and of positive degree. As an application, the authors studies tropical hyperelliptic curves, i.e. curves which posses a \(g^1_2\). In the classical setting, the canonical map \(\phi_{|K_C|}\) of an algebraic curve \(C\) which is given by the linear system of the canonical divisor \(K_C\) gives rise to a double cover \(C \to \mathbb{P}^1\). While tropically, a \(g^1_2\) gives rise to a harmonic double cover of a metric tree (the tropical analogue of \(\mathbb{P}^1\)), the canonical map will not always be of this form. In fact, the author shows that the canonical map is a double cover of a tree precisely when \(g(\Gamma) = 2\). Furthermore, the authors shows that if \(\Gamma\) is hyperelliptic and \(g(\Gamma) \geq 3\), then a double cover of the desired form is given by the part of the canonical linear system which is invariant under the hyperelliptic involution. A noteworthy technical detail is that since \(\phi_F : \Gamma \to \phi_F(\Gamma)\) is always an isometry, the author has to introduce multiplicities on the edges of \(\Gamma\), given by the size of their stabilizer groups, in order to make the map harmonic.