Stable reduction of three point covers (Q2388632)

This paper arose from a plenary lecture given at the XXIIIrd Journées Arithmétiques in Graz in 2003. It gives a survey of some recent results on three point covers of the projective line, which lead to the following result of the author, proved in [J. Am. Math. Soc. 16, No. 4, 991--1032 (2003; Zbl 1062.14038)]: Let \(f: X \to \mathbb P^1\) be a three point cover with monodromy group \(G\) and field of moduli \(K\). Then any prime number \(p\), which strictly divides \(\#G\), is at most tamely ramified in \(K/\mathbb Q\).