A family of \((p,n)\)-gonal Riemann surfaces with several \((p,n)\)-gonal groups (Q2661730)

A compact Riemann surface \(S\) of genus at least 2 is said to be \((p, n)\)-gonal, where \(p\) is a prime, if there exists a group \(C\) of holomorphic automorphisms of \(S\) of order \(p\) -- which is called a \((p, n)\)-gonal group -- such that the orbit space \(S/C\) has genus \(n\) (where \(n \in \mathbb{N}\)). The classes of \((p, n)\)-gonal Riemann surfaces are generalisations of classes of compact Riemann surfaces that have been studied extensively in the past. For example the \((2,0)\)-gonal surfaces are precisely the hyperelliptic surfaces, and the \((2, n)\)-gonal surfaces are precisely the \(n\)-hyperelliptic surfaces. In this paper, it is shown that for any prime \(p \geq 3\) and for any \(n\in \mathbb{N}\) that is a multiple of \((p-1)\), there is a complex \(d\)-dimensional family \(\{S_{\alpha}\}\) of \((p, n)\)-gonal Riemann surfaces having the largest possible genus such that each \(S_{\alpha}\) admits more than one \((p, n)\)-gonal group, where \(d := 1+ n/(p-1)\). Here, the maximal genus equals \(2np + (p-1)^2\). It follows from the proof of this result that it also holds true for \(=2\) if \(n\) is odd.