On the Malle conjecture and the self-twisted cover (Q522329)

For a finite group $G$ and a real number $y>0$, let $N(G,y)$ denote the number of Galois extensions $E/\mathbb{Q}$ (inside a fixed algebraic closure $\overline{\mathbb{Q}}$ of $\mathbb{Q}$) of group $G$ and discriminant $d_E$, with $|d_E|\leq y$. The Malle conjecture predicts a lower bound and an upper bound for $N(G,y)$ in powers of $y$, for $y$ big enough. In the paper under review, the author establishes the lower bound for all groups $G$ which are regular Galois groups over $\mathbb{Q}$. To this end he uses a new version of Hilbert's irreducibility theorem that counts the specialized extensions $E/\mathbb{Q}$ of a given regular Galois extension $F/\mathbb{Q}(T)$ and not just the specialization points. The main tool for it is the self-twisted cover. Given a regular $G$-cover of the projective line, the author proves that the twisted covers of it by its own specializations are all members of an algebraic family of covers: the self-twisted cover. Moreover the specialized extensions $E/\mathbb{Q}$ can be prescribed a local behaviour.