A simple recurrence for covers of the sphere with branch points of arbitrary ramification

dc.creatorGoulden, I. P.
dc.creatorSerrano, Luis G.
dc.date2005-08-12
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T05:22:20Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T05:22:20Z
dc.descriptionThe problem of counting ramified covers of a Riemann surface up to homeomorphism was proposed by Hurwitz in the late 1800's. This problem translates combinatorially into factoring a permutation of specified cycle type, with certain conditions on the cycle types of the factors, such as minimality and transitivity. Goulden and Jackson have given a proof for the number of minimal, transitive factorizations of a permutation into transpositions. This proof involves a partial differential equation for the generating series, called the Join-Cut equation. Recently, Bousquet-Mélou and Schaeffer have found the number of minimal, transitive factorizations of a permutation into arbitrary unspecified factors. This was proved by a purely combinatorial argument, based on a direct bijection between factorizations and certain objects called $m$-Eulerian trees. In this paper, we give a simple partial differential equation for Bousquet-Mélou and Schaeffer's generating series, and for Goulden and Jackson's generating series, as well as a new proof of the result by Bousquet-Mélou and Schaeffer. We apply algebraic methods based on Lagrange's theorem, and combinatorial methods based on a new use of Bousquet-Mélou and Schaeffer's $m$-Eulerian trees.
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/math/0508226
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/math/0508226
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/76022
dc.subjectCombinatorics
dc.subjectAlgebraic Geometry
dc.subject05A15 (Primary) 14N10 (Secondary)
dc.titleA simple recurrence for covers of the sphere with branch points of arbitrary ramification
dc.typetext

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