Ruled surfaces and generic coverings (Q2502980)

The paper deals with normal generic covers branched over \(\{x^n=y^m\}\), i.e., finite holomorphic maps \(\pi : S \rightarrow \mathbb{C}^2\) from a connected normal surface \(S\) to complex plane \(\mathbb{C}^2\), which is an analytic covering branched over a curve \(B=\{(x,y) \in \mathbb{C}^2 : x^n=y^m\}\), such that the fiber \(\pi^{-1}(p)\) for \(p \in B\setminus \{(0,0)\}\) is supported on \(\deg \pi -1\) points. The authors show that the germ of such a map \(\pi\) is equivalent to a germ of the branched covering defined on a surface \(X\) obtained by contracting a section \(C_0\) of a ruled surface \(\widetilde{X}\) on a smooth curve \(C\) and taking a quotient by an action of a finite cyclic group \(G\). Basing on the above they give the numerical characterization of all the smooth normal generic covers branched over \(\{x^n=y^m\}\) and state also the rationality criteria.