Finite covers with finite kernels Original Research Article

We are concerned with the following problem. Suppose Γ and Σ are closed permutation groups on infinite sets C and W and ρ: Γ → Σ is a non-split, continuous epimorphism with finite kernel. Describe (for fixed Σ) the possibilities for ρ. Here, we consider the case where ρ arises from a finite cover π: C → W. We give reasonably general conditions on the permutation structure 〈W;Σ〉 which allow us to prove that these covers arise in two possible ways. The first way, reminiscent of covers of topological spaces, is as a covering of some Σ-invariant digraph on W. The second construction is less easy to describe, but produces the most familiar of these types of covers: a vector space covering its projective space.