No label defined (Q4788752)

The starting point of the paper under review is Belyi's famous theorem that every algebraic curve defined over a number field admits a surjective map onto \(\mathbb{P}^1\) unramified outside \(\{0,1,\infty\}\). In particular, this implies that modular curves and their unramified covers form a dominating class. Here, a class \(\mathcal C\) of curves over an algebraically closed field \(k\) is called dominating if for any complete, algebraic curve \(C'\) over \(k\), there exists a curve \(\tilde{C}\) in \({\mathcal C}\) and a surjective regular map from \(\tilde{C}\) to \(C'\). Furthermore, a curve \(C\in\mathcal C\) is called universal if the class of its unramified covers is dominating. The authors concentrate first to the case where \(k\) is the algebraic closure of \(\mathbb{F}_p\). They prove that for \(p\geq 5\), any hyperelliptic curve of genus \(g\geq 2\) is universal. Then, the case of characteristic zero is treated. The results can be summarized for arbitrary algebraically closed fields with char\(k\neq 2,3\): Every hyperelliptic curve of genus at least two has a finite étale cover surjecting onto the curve \(C_0\) given by \(\root 6\of{z(1-z)}\). In particular, if \(C_0\) is universal, then every hyperelliptic curve of genus at least two is universal. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0997.00010].