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Choose a path $\gamma$ in $X$ from $x_0$ to $x_1$. For every $\hat{x}\in p^{-1}(x_0)$, the path lifting theorem gives a unique lift of $\gamma$ starting at $\hat{x}$. Send $\hat{x}$ to the endpoint of this lift. Lifting the reversed path gives the inverse map, so this is the fibre bijection by path liftingIn particular, all fibres have the same cardinality.

A connected covering is a normal covering map when its deck transformations act transitively on a fibre. Equivalently, for a choice of ${\hat{x}}_0$ above $x_0$,The relevant lifting criterion for a covering space says that a based map $f:(Y,y_0)\to (X,x_0)$ lifts through $p$ exactly whenFor a universal covering, $\hat{X}$ is simply connected, so the displayed covering subgroup is trivial and hence normal. Thus a universal covering map is normal.

Now consider connected finite covers of the closed orientable surface ${\Sigma }_g$. By the classification of connected covering spaces, degree-$n$ connected covers correspond to index-$n$ subgroups of the fundamental group of a closed orientable surface, and normal covers correspond to normal subgroups.

The cases in which normality is forced are:

It remains to show that these are the only forced cases. Let $g\ge 2$ and $n\ge 3$. WriteIn the symmetric group $S_n$, putDefine a homomorphism byand send all remaining generators to the identity. The relation is respected becauseThe cycle $\sigma$ and transposition $\tau$ generate $S_n$, so the homomorphism is surjective.

LetThe natural action of $S_n$ is transitive, so $H$ has index $n$. Its image is the point stabilizer $S_{n-1}$, which is not normal in $S_n$ for $n\ge 3$; hence $H$ is not normal. The connected covering corresponding to $H$ is therefore an explicit degree-$n$ nonnormal cover. This is the nonnormal finite cover of a higher-genus orientable surface.

Consequently, among connected covers that exist, normality is forced exactly whenwith the qualification that $g=0$ permits only $n=1$, as summarized by the forced normality of finite connected covers of orientable surfaces.

The Lagrange root bound over a field says that a nonzero polynomial of degree $r$ over a field has at most $r$ roots. In particular, a polynomial modular congruence of degree $r$ modulo a prime number has at most $r$ incongruent solutions unless all its coefficients vanish modulo that prime.

Suppose that $d$ is good and that the positive integer divisor $e$ divides $d$. The $d$ roots of $X^d-1$ form a finite multiplicative subgroup $H$ of ${\mathbb{F}}_p^{\times }$. By the fact that every finite multiplicative subgroup of a field is cyclic, $H=⟨g⟩$ is a cyclic group of order $d$. The solutions in $H$ of $x^e=1$ areso there are at least $e$ of them. The Lagrange root bound over a field gives at most $e$ roots in all of ${\mathbb{F}}_p$, hence exactly $e$. Thus every divisor of a good number is good.

Now put $n=pq$. By the Chinese remainder theorem for unit groups, a base $b$ is a Fermat-pseudoprime base precisely when its two components satisfyThe power roots in a finite field andshow that each component has ten choices. Therefore there areFermat-pseudoprime bases.

To impose the strong pseudoprime condition, write $n-1=2^{s}m$ with $m$ odd. Since $10\mid n-1$, we have $5\mid m$. In each cyclic group of ten Fermat components, raising to the $m$th power sends five elements to $1$ and five elements to $-1$. A pair of components passes the strong test exactly when their signs agree: the pair $(1,1)$ satisfies the first alternative, and $(-1,-1)$ satisfies the second at $j=0$. Components of opposite sign become $(1,1)$ after squaring and can never jointly equal $-1$. Hence the number of strong-pseudoprime bases is

Write a matrix as $(r,b)$, where $r=a^2$ is a nonzero quadratic residue modulo $11$. The square subgroup isMatrix multiplication becomesThus $H$ is the affine semidirect product of cyclic groups of orders eleven and fiveThere are five choices for $r$ and eleven for $b$, so $|H|=55$. It is nonabelian, since

LetConjugation by the complement givesHence the ten nonidentity translations split into the two orbitseach of size five. For $r\ne 1$,Since $1-r\ne 0$, varying $t$ gives every $b\in {\mathbb{F}}_{11}$. Conjugation cannot change $r$ in the abelian quotient $H/N$. Therefore, withthe seven conjugacy classes areof sizes $1,5,5,11,11,11,11$, agreeing with the conjugacy classes in the affine semidirect product of orders eleven and five.

The commutators with $(4,0)$ generate every translation because multiplication by $4-1=3$ is invertible in ${\mathbb{F}}_{11}$. Hence the commutator subgroup is $N$, and the abelianization isPut $\zeta =e^{2\pi i/5}$. The one-dimensional characters factor through the abelianization, giving five characters

For the remaining characters, put $\omega =e^{2\pi i/11}$ and define a character of $N$ byThe complement has two free orbits on the nontrivial ${\theta }_m$, indexed by $m\in Q$ and $m\in 2Q$. By induction from an abelian normal subgroup with a free character orbit, the charactersare irreducible of degree five and vanish outside $N$.

SetThe quadratic periods modulo eleven give the nonsquare sum $\overline{\eta }=(-1-i\sqrt{11})/2$. Multiplication by a square preserves $Q$ and multiplication by a nonsquare exchanges the two square classes, so the complete character table isFinally,and there are seven rows for the seven conjugacy classes. Thus these are all irreducible characters, as described by the irreducible characters of the affine semidirect product of orders eleven and five.