\(p\)-adic Hurwitz groups (Q376026)

Suppose that \(X\) is a compact Riemann surface of genus \(g\geq 2\) and \(G\) is a group of automorphisms of \(X\). A classical result of Hurwitz states that \(|G|\leq 84(g-1)\), and in the case that \(|G|=84(g-1)\), we call \(G\) a Hurwitz group. An alternate way of characterizing Hurwitz groups is through uniformization. Specifically, the full group of conformal automorphisms of a compact Riemann surface \(X\) is a Hurwitz group if and only if \(X\) is analytically equivalent to a quotient \({\mathbb H}/\Gamma\) where \(\Gamma\) is a torsion free normal subgroup of finite index in a Fuchsian triangle group \(\Delta\) with signature \((0;2,3,7)\). Over the last few decades, Hurwitz groups have been the focus of much study. For example, in [Number Theory, Proc. Sympos. Pure Math. 12, 14--32 (1969; Zbl 0192.35703)], \textit{A. M. Macbeath} showed that there are infinitely many Hurwitz groups by explicitly constructing an infinite series of such groups. Other questions focus on which finite groups are, or are not, Hurwitz groups. In the paper under review, the authors consider \(p\)-adic analogues of Hurwitz groups and address similar questions of how many \(p\)-adic Hurwitz groups exist, and which specific groups are \(p\)-adic Hurwitz groups. For a prime \(p\), let \({\mathbb C}_p\) denote the field of \(p\)-adic complex numbers. Though Hurwitz's Theorem holds algebraically for curves defined over \({\mathbb C}_{p}\), in order to formulate a uniformization analogue of Hurwitz's theorem, one is naturally restricted to the class of Mumford curves -- that is, curves of genus \(g>1\) which are analytically isomorphic to quotients \(\Omega /\Gamma\) where \(\Gamma\) is a \(p\)-adic Schottky group and \(\Omega\) the set of ordinary points of \(\Gamma\). In [Math. Ann. 246, 125--130 (1980; Zbl 0426.14023)], \textit{F. Herrlich} showed that for \(p\)-adic Mumford curves, the number of automorphisms is at most \(48(g-1)\) if \(p=2\), \(24(g-1)\) if \(p=3\), \(30(g-1)\) if \(p=5\) and \(12(g-1)\) if \(p>5\). This implies that the natural way to define a \(p\)-adic Hurwitz group is as a group of automorphims of a \(p\)-adic Mumford curve whose order attains one of these bounds. The authors show that if a group \(G\) is a \(p\)-adic Hurwitz group, then it is characterized by a normal Schottky subgroup of certain \(p\)-adic triangle groups for \(p=2,3,5\) and of a \(p\)-adic quadrangle group if \(p>5\). Following this, the authors construct explicit infinite series of \(p\)-adic Hurwitz groups for each prime \(p\), thus generalizing the result for Hurwitz groups of compact Riemann surfaces, and they provide further examples of \(p\)-adic Hurwitz groups. One of the primary techniques used by the authors is to exhibit the existence of an epimorphism with torsion free kernel from either the relevant triangle or quadrangle group, each of which can be represented as a free product \(A*_CB\) of certain finite groups, onto a finite group \(G\), a technique similar to that used for regular Hurwitz groups.