Coverings between compact Klein surfaces (Q2674530)

Let \(X\) be a compact Klein surface. In the last half century it has become clear that non-Euclidean crystallographic (NEC) groups constitute a fundamental tool in order to study Klein surfaces. An NEC group \(\Lambda\) is a discrete subgroup of the automorphism group of the hyperbolic plane \(\mathcal{H}\). Then, the surface \(X\) is the quotient \(\mathcal{H}/\Lambda\) for a certain NEC group \(\Lambda\). If \(G\) is a finite group and it acts as a subgroup of the automorphism group of \(X = \mathcal{H}/\Lambda\), then \(G\) can be represented as \(\Gamma / \Lambda\), where \(\Gamma\) is an NEC group having \(\Lambda\) as a normal subgroup. In the paper under review, the author uses this theory of NEC groups, as well as the theory of coverings, for studying several questions on Klein surfaces. In this way, Section 3 is devoted to the boundary of the surface \(X = \mathcal{H}/\Lambda\) for a certain NEC group \(\Lambda\). In Section 4 the author considers the topological equivalence of group actions on a Klein surface. In Section 5 she deals with the sets of points fixed by the elements of \(\Lambda\), and the fixed points of the elements of \(G\), when \(G\) acts on the surface \(\mathcal{H}/\Lambda\). Finally, Section 6 reobtains in this setting the relationship between the signatures of an NEC group \(\Lambda\), and of a normal subgroup \(\Delta\) of \(\Lambda\), which was determined by E. Bujalance and J. A. Bujalance back in the eighties in different papers. The article as a whole therefore provides a homogeneous view of a number of items in the theory of Klein surfaces.