English

Zero-sum multisets mod p with an application to surface automorphisms

Combinatorics 2025-12-16 v5

Abstract

We solve a problem in enumerative combinatorics which is equivalent to counting topological types of certain group actions on compact Riemann surfaces. Let V2(Fp)V_2(F_p) be the two-dimensional vector space over FpF_p, the field with pp elements, pp an odd prime. We count orbits of the general linear group GL2(Fp)GL_2(F_p) on certain multisets consisting of R3R \geq 3 non-zero columns from V2(Fp)V_2(F_p). The RR-multisets are `zero-sum,' that is, the sum (mod pp) over the columns in the multiset is [00][\begin{smallmatrix} 0 \\ 0 \end{smallmatrix}]. The orbit count yields the number of topological types of fully ramified actions of the elementary abelian pp-group of rank 22 on compact Riemann surfaces of genus 1+Rp(p1)/2p2.1+ Rp(p-1)/2-p^2.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1703.02147,
  title  = {Zero-sum multisets mod p with an application to surface automorphisms},
  author = {Anthony Weaver},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1703.02147},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

This version clarifies the proof of Theorem 1. It supersedes and replaces all earlier versions, including the version titled "Counting topological types of elementary abelian p group actions on surfaces."

R2 v1 2026-06-22T18:37:48.539Z