Universal covering spaces and fundamental groups in algebraic geometry as schemes (Q719166)

The authors construct, for any connected quasi-compact and quasi-separated scheme \(X\), a group scheme \(\pi_1(X)\) over \(X\) whose fibre over a geometric point \(\bar x\) identifies with Grothendieck's étale fundamental group \(\pi_1(X, \bar x)\). They also work out the existence of an algebraic universal cover which is a scheme and not just a pro-object as in SGA1 [\textit{A. Grothendieck} (ed.), Seminar on algebraic geometry at Bois Marie 1960-61. Documents Mathématiques (Paris) 3. Paris: Société Mathématique de France. (2003; Zbl 1039.14001)]. The possibility of such constructions was certainly known to Grothendieck, and an exposition can be found in \S 10 of [\textit{P. Deligne}, ``Le groupe fondamental de la droite projective moins trois points'', Galois groups over \(\mathbb{Q}\), Proc. Workshop, Berkeley/CA (USA) 1987, Publ., Math. Sci. Res. Inst. 16, 79--297 (1989; Zbl 0742.14022)], under somewhat more restrictive assumptions. There is also an obvious connection to Nori's fundamental group scheme as constructed in [\textit{M. Nori}, ``The fundamental group-scheme'', Proc. Indian Acad. Sci., Math. Sci. 91, 73--122 (1982; Zbl 0586.14006)] which the authors mention but do not work out. On the other hand, their exposition is very reader-friendly, emphasizes points that are not always stressed in other treatments and contains a number of worked-out examples which are helpful for the novice. A somewhat puzzling feature of the text is the unusually large number of facts and examples that the authors claim to have heard from other colleagues (though many of them can be found in the literature). At points the paper resembles those justly popular websites that contain a wealth of information reflecting the joint effort of many excellent mathematicians but which often lack precise references. As such it is warmly recommended for beginners in the subject but some may wonder whether the place of such a text is in a refereed journal.