Related papers: Beauville surfaces and probabilistic group theory

We first show that every quasisimple sporadic group possesses an unmixed strongly real Beauville structure aside from the Mathieu groups M11 and M23 (and possibly 2B and M). We go on to show that no almost simple sporadic group possesses a…

In this paper we give the asymptotic growth of the number of connected components of the moduli space of surfaces of general type corresponding to certain families of Beauville surfaces with group either $\PSL(2,p)$, or an alternating…

If $\mathcal S$ is a Beauville surface $({\mathcal C}_1\times{\mathcal C}_2)/G$, then the Hurwitz bound implies that $|G|\le 1764\,\chi({\mathcal S})$, with equality if and only if the Beauville group $G$ acts as a Hurwitz group on both…

We prove a conjecture of Boston that if $p\geq 5$, all $p$-central quotients of the free group on two generators and of the free product of two cyclic groups of order $p$ are Beauville groups. In the case of the free product, we also…

Let F be a polarized irreducible holomorphic symplectic fourfold, deformation equivalent to the Hilbert scheme parametrizing length-two zero-dimensional subschemes of a K3 surface. The homology group H^2(F,Z) is equipped with an integral…

We generalise a construction of mixed Beauville groups first given by Bauer, Catanese and Grunewald. We go on to give several examples of infinite families of characteristically simple groups that satisfy the hypotheses of our theorem and…

This is an announcement of conjectures and results concerning the generating series of Euler characteristics of Hilbert schemes of points on surfaces with simple (Kleinian) singularities. For a quotient surface C^2/G with G a finite…

We start discussing the group of automorphisms of the field of complex numbers, and describe, in the special case of polynomials with only two critical values, Grothendieck's program of 'Dessins d' enfants', aiming at giving representations…

We construct an infinite family of triples $(G_k,H_k,T_k)$, where $G_k$ are 2-groups of increasing order, $H_k$ are index-2 subgroups of $G_k$, and $T_k$ are pairs of generators of $H_k$. We show that the triples $u_k = (G_k,H_k,T_k)$ are…

We construct nontrivial homomorphisms from the quasi group of some cubic surfaces over $\bbF_{\!p}$ into a group. We show experimentally that the homomorphisms constructed are the only possible ones and that there are no nontrivial…

We construct orbits of the absolute Galois group, of explicit unbounded size, consisting of surfaces with mutually non-isomorphic fundamental groups. These are Beauville surfaces with Beauville group PGL_2(p).

We study the existence of (unmixed) Beauville structures in finite $p$-groups, where $p$ is a prime. First of all, we extend Catanese's characterisation of abelian Beauville groups to finite $p$-groups satisfying certain conditions which…

The paper contains a general construction which produces new examples of non simply-connected smooth projective surfaces. We analyze the resulting surfaces and their fundamental groups. Many of these fundamental groups are expected to be…

We give a survey on the fundamental group of surfaces isogenous to a higher product. If the surfaces are regular, e.g. if they are Beauville surfaces, the first homology group is a finite group. We present a MAGMA script which calculates…

A cocompact lattice in a semisimple Lie group $G$ is a discrete subgroup $\Gamma$ such that the quotient $G/\Gamma$ is compact. Does such a lattice always contain a surface group, i.e. a subgroup isomorphic to the fundamental group of a…

We prove that the Brauer group of the generic diagonal surface of arbitrary degree is trivial. The same method is applied to surfaces whose equation can be written as the sum of two bilinear forms. This uses a general criterion for the…

Frucht showed that, for any finite group $G$, there exists a cubic graph such that its automorphism group is isomorphic to $G$. For groups generated by two elements we simplify his construction to a graph with fewer nodes. In the general…

We prove that the complex surfaces parametrizing cuboids and face cuboids, as well as their minimal resolution of singularities, have trivial fundamental group. We then compute the fundamental group of certain open smooth subvarieties of…

Let $X$ be a hyperk\"ahler variety, and let $G$ be a group of finite order non-symplectic automorphisms of $X$. Beauville's conjectural splitting property predicts that each Chow group of $X$ should split in a finite number of pieces. The…

The Surface Group Conjectures are statements about recognising surface groups among one-relator groups, using either the structure of their finite-index subgroups, or all subgroups. We resolve these conjectures in the two generator case.…