Topology of Algebraic Curves

The series is devoted to the publication of monographs and high-level textbooks in mathematics, mathematical methods and their applications. Apart from covering important areas of current interest, a major aim is to make topics of an interdisciplinary nature accessible to the non-specialist. The works in this series are addressed to advanced students and researchers in mathematics and theoretical physics. In addition, it can serve as a guide for lectures and seminars on a graduate level. The series de Gruyter Studies in Mathematics was founded ca. 30 years ago by the late Professor Heinz Bauer and Professor Peter Gabriel with the aim to establish a series of monographs and textbooks of high standard, written by scholars with an international reputation presenting current fields of research in pure and applied mathematics.While the editorial board of the Studies has changed with the years, the aspirations of the Studies are unchanged. In times of rapid growth of mathematical knowledge carefully written monographs and textbooks written by experts are needed more than ever, not least to pave the way for the next generation of mathematicians. In this sense the editorial board and the publisher of the Studies are devoted to continue the Studies as a service to the mathematical community. Please submit any book proposals to Niels Jacob.

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This monograph summarizes and extends a number of results on the topology of trigonal curves in geometrically ruled surfaces. An emphasis is given to various applications of the theory to a few related areas, most notably singular plane curves of small degree, elliptic surfaces, and Lefschetz fibrations (both complex and real), and Hurwitz equivalence of braid monodromy factorizations. The approach relies on a close relation between trigonal curves/elliptic surfaces, a certain class of ribbon graphs, and subgroups of the modular group, which provides a combinatorial framework for the study of geometric objects. A brief summary of the necessary auxiliary results and techniques used and a background of the principal problems dealt with are included in the text. The book is intended to researchers and graduate students in the field of topology of complex and real algebraic varieties.