Tropicalizing tame degree three coverings of the projective line

Abstract: In this paper, we study the problem of tropicalizing tame degree three coverings of the projective line. Given any degree three covering $C\longrightarrow{\mathbb{P}^{1}}$, we give an algorithm that produces the Berkovich skeleton of $C$. In particular, this gives an algorithm for finding the Berkovich skeleton of a genus $3$ curve. The algorithm uses a continuity statement for inertia groups of semistable Galois coverings, which we prove first. After that we give a formula for the decomposition group of an irreducible component $\Gamma\subset{\mathcal{C}{s}}$ for a semistable Galois covering $\mathcal{C}\longrightarrow{\mathcal{D}}$. We conclude the paper with a simple application of these $S{3}$-coverings to elliptic curves, giving another proof of the familiar semistability criterion for elliptic curves using a natural degree three morphism to $\mathbb{P}^{1}$ instead of the usual degree two morphism.