Tropical real Hurwitz numbers (Q495597)

One of the main successes of tropical geometry lies in its interaction with enumerative geometry (see [\textit{G. Mikhalkin}, J. Am. Math. Soc. 18, No. 2, 313--377 (2005; Zbl 1092.14068)]] for a first example). The guiding principle hereby is to first define a tropical analogue of an algebraic enumerative invariant and then to prove a correspondence theorem relating the tropical with the algebraic construction. Moreover, tropical enumerative invariants typically do not only recover complex algebraic invariants, but (with some modifications) also real algebraic invariants. In this article the authors develop the notion of tropical real Hurwitz numbers and prove a correspondence theorem with real algebraic Hurwitz numbers, inspired by earlier work of \textit{R. Cavalieri} et al. [J. Algebr. Comb. 32, No. 2, 241--265 (2010; Zbl 1218.14058)] on tropical analogues of complex Hurwitz numbers. The case of tropical real double Hurwitz numbers has already been studied by \textit{M. Guay-Paquet} and the two authors in a separate article [Int. Math. Res. Not. 2016, No. 1, 258--293 (2016; Zbl 1401.14230)].