Almost Regular Coverings of the Sphere: Realizability. I. Tetrahedral Case

Abstract

We prove the realizability of genus-$0$ branch data of the form $(2^r,a \mathop{|} 3^s,b \mathop{|} 3^t,c)$ and $(2^r,a \mathop{|} 3^s \mathop{|} 3^t,b,c)$, where $a$, $b$, $c$ are not divisible by $2$, $3$, $3$ respectively. The proof uses an explicit combinatorial description of coverings of the sphere branched over $3$ points via dessins d'enfants. As a corollary, we establish realizability for a broader class of branch data with more critical values.