Galois covers of graphs and embedded topology of plane curves (Q670155)

Given a Galois cover \(\phi\colon X\to\mathbb{P}^2\) and a curve \(C\subset\mathbb{P}^2\) without common components with the branch locus \(B\) of \(\phi\), the author introduces the \textit{splitting graph} \(S_{\phi,C}\) of \(C\) for \(\phi\): its vertices are the singular points (outside \(\phi^*B\)) and irreducible components of the pull-back \(\phi^*C\), its edges are the local branches at the singular points, and the graph is equipped with the natural action of the deck translation group of \(\phi\). Obviously, \(S_{\phi,C}\) is a topological invariant of the pair \((\phi,C)\). The author applies this concept to the topological classification of the so-called \textit{Artal arrangements}, viz. curves of the form \(B+C\), where \(B\) is a smooth curve of a given degree \(d\ge3\) and \(C\) is the union of three non-concurrent lines with prescribed intersection multiplicities with \(B\) (and \(\phi\) is the standard cyclic \(d\)-fold covering ramified at \(B\)). It is asserted that two such arrangements are homeomorphic if and only if their splitting graphs are isomorphic. The (deformation) equivalence is established by a certain Menelaus type argument, taking for \(C\) the union of the coordinate lines and analyzing the equation for \(B\).