Sectional monodromy groups of projective curves (1809.07293v4)

Abstract: Fix a degree $d$ projective curve $X \subset \mathbb{P}^r$ over an algebraically closed field $K$. Let $U \subset (\mathbb{P}^r)^*$ be a dense open subvariety such that every hyperplane $H \in U$ intersects $X$ in $d$ smooth points. Varying $H \in U$ produces the monodromy action $\varphi: \pi_1^{\text{\'et}}(U) \to S_d$. Let $G_X := \mathrm{im}(\varphi)$. The permutation group $G_X$ is called the sectional monodromy group of $X$. In characteristic zero $G_X$ is always the full symmetric group, but sectional monodromy groups in characteristic $p$ can be smaller. For a large class of space curves ($r \geqslant 3$) we classify all possibilities for the sectional monodromy group $G$ as well as the curves with $G_X=G$. We apply similar methods to study a particular family of rational curves in $\mathbb{P}^2$, which enables us to answer an old question about Galois groups of generic trinomials.