English

Reverse Hurwitz counts of genus 1 curves

Algebraic Geometry 2025-09-16 v1

Abstract

In this paper, we study a problem that is in a sense a reversal of the Hurwitz counting problem. The Hurwitz problem asks: for a generic target -- P1\mathbb P^1 with a list of nn points q1,,qnP1q_1,\dots,q_n\in \mathbb P^1 -- and partitions σ1,,σn\sigma_1,\dots,\sigma_n of dd, how many degree dd covers CP1C\to\mathbb P^1 are there with specified ramification σi\sigma_i over qiq_i? We ask: for a generic source -- an rr-pointed curve (C,p1,,pr)(C,p_1,\dots,p_r) of genus 11 -- and partitions μ,σ1,,σn\mu, \sigma_1,\dots,\sigma_n of dd with (μ)=r\ell(\mu)=r, how many degree dd covers CP1C\to\mathbb P^1 are there with ramification profile μ\mu over 00 corresponding to a fiber {p1,,pr}\{p_1,\dots,p_r\} and elsewhere ramification profiles σ1,,σn\sigma_1,\dots,\sigma_n? While the enumerative invariants we study bear a similarity to generalized Tevelev degrees, they are more difficult to express in closed form in general. Nonetheless, we establish key results: after proving a closed form result in the case where the only non-simple unmarked ramification profiles σ1\sigma_1 and σ2\sigma_2 are ``even'' (consisting of 2,,22,\dots,2), we go on to establish recursive formulas to compute invariants where each unmarked ramification profile is of the form (x,1,,1)(x,1,\dots,1). A special case asks: given a generic dd-pointed genus 11 curve (E,p1,,pd)(E,p_1,\dots,p_d), how many degree dd covers (E,p1,,pd)(P1,0)(E,p_1,\dots,p_d)\to(\mathbb P^1,0) are there with d2d-2 unspecified points of EE having ramification index 33? We show that the answer is an explicit quartic in dd.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2509.11280,
  title  = {Reverse Hurwitz counts of genus 1 curves},
  author = {Michael Mueller},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.11280},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

35 pages, many TikZ figures; comments welcome