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A point of the surface is a germ of a branch obtained by analytic continuation of the original function. A representative analytic branch on a small disc gives a neighbourhood of germs, one at each centre in that disc. Projection to the centre is a complex coordinate chart; overlaps have identity transition maps. Complete continuation along every path gives a Riemann surface with an unramified covering map $\pi$ to $U$. Lifting a closed path starting at each germ above $P$ analytically continues that branch back to $P$, permuting the fibre. Reverse paths give inverse permutations, and concatenation gives their composition. This is the monodromy action of a covering space.

Write $A=\sqrt{z^2-1}$, $B=\sqrt{z^2-4}$. There are four branches $(++),(+-),(-+),(--)$, which are distinct: neither square root vanishes on $U$, and $A^2-B^2=3$ prevents $A=\pm B$. Small loops about either $1$ or $-1$ change the sign of $A$ only; loops about either $2$ or $-2$ change the sign of $B$ only. Label the four branches in the displayed order. The corresponding permutations are $(13)(24)$ and $(12)(34)$, respectively. Every loop in this punctured plane is generated up to homotopy by these puncture loops, so no other generators arise. The resulting monodromy group of a covering isIt acts transitively and regularly on the four branches.

At a noncritical point a holomorphic map has a local holomorphic inverse. Fibres of a nonconstant map between compact connected Riemann surfaces are finite: zeros are isolated and compactness precludes infinitely many. Around a nonbranch value $w$, choose disjoint inverse neighbourhoods of every point in its fibre. Compactness of the remaining source ensures a sufficiently small disc about $w$ has no additional preimages. Its preimage is therefore a disjoint union of open sets each mapped biholomorphically onto that disc. This proves a finite-sheeted unbranched covering map after removing the branch fibres.

Here the word “regular” must mean locally unbranched or evenly covered, rather than the stronger modern normal-cover condition. A general holomorphic map does not give a normal covering, and the example below itself shows the distinction.

Lift a loop based at $w$ uniquely from each point of $f^{-1}(w)$. Its endpoint defines a permutation; reversing the loop gives the inverse permutation, and concatenation gives composition. Homotopic loops yield the same endpoints. The monodromy group of a covering consists of these permutations. Removing finitely many points from a connected surface leaves it path-connected. Any two points in the same fibre can therefore be joined upstairs; the projection of that path is a loop whose lift joins them. Thus the monodromy action is transitive.

For the rational map of degree three, differentiation givesAt $z=0$, the local degree is three, so a small loop around its value $0$ acts as a 3-cycle. At $z=\pm \sqrt{3}$, the local degree is two; their distinct branch values are $\mp 3\sqrt{3}/2$, and a loop around either acts as a transposition. The poles $\pm 1$ and the point at infinity are simple and unramified. A 3-cycle and a transposition generate the full symmetric group, soThe corresponding degree-three connected cover is not normal: a normal cover would have a regular monodromy action, whereas $S_3$ on three letters has nontrivial point stabilizers. Thus the stronger interpretation of the printed terminology cannot hold.

A function element is a pair $(f,D)$ consisting of a domain $D\subseteq G$ and a holomorphic function $f:D\to \mathbb{C}$ belonging to the given complete analytic function. Its germ of a holomorphic function at $z\in D$ is the equivalence class $[f{]}_z$, where two elements are equivalent when they agree on a neighbourhood of $z$.

For every function element $(f,D)$ and sufficiently small open $U\subseteq D$, setThese sets form a basis for the space of germs of holomorphic functions. The projectionrestricts to a homeomorphism $U_f\to U$. The inverse projections $\pi {|}_{U_f}$ are compatible complex charts, making $\mathcal{G}$ a Riemann surface and $\pi$ a covering map and local biholomorphism. In such a chart, the evaluation map on a space of germs has coordinate expressionIt is therefore holomorphic on every chart, hence analytic on each component of $\mathcal{G}$.

Now let $f:R\to S$ be a nonconstant analytic map of compact connected Riemann surfaces, and let $B$ be its finite branch-value set. Each point of $B$ is a branch value of a holomorphic map. At every point of $R\setminus f^{-1}(B)$ the local degree is one, so the holomorphic inverse-function theorem supplies a neighbourhood on which $f$ is biholomorphic. For $y\in S\setminus B$, the fibre is finite. Choose disjoint inverse neighbourhoods around all its points and shrink their common image; compactness, or equivalently properness of $f$, ensures that no additional preimages enter. Thusis an ordinary unramified covering map.

Fix $P\in S\setminus B$. Given a loop $\gamma$ based at $P$, lift it from every $Q\in f^{-1}(P)$ and send $Q$ to the endpoint of its lift. The path lifting theorem makes this a permutation; concatenation of loops composes the permutations and reversal gives inverses. Its image is the monodromy group of a covering. The punctured surface $R\setminus f^{-1}(B)$ is path connected. Given two points of the fibre, join them there by a path; its projection is a loop whose lift joins those points. Hence the monodromy action is transitive.

Finally considerIt has degree four. Its finite critical points satisfywith branch values $2$ and $-2$; the double poles at zero and infinity give the branch value infinity. For a regular value, the fibre isThe two commuting involutions $z\mapsto -z$ and $z\mapsto z^{-1}$ preserve $F$ and act transitively on this fibre. They generate all four deck transformations, so the covering is normal and its monodromy group isWith the displayed ordering of the fibre, its elements areThis is the monodromy group of z squared plus z to the minus two.

In local coordinates centred at $p$ and $f(p)$, a nonconstant rational map has the formThe point $p$ is a ramification point of a holomorphic map when its ramification index of a holomorphic map satisfies $e_p>1$. A branch value of a holomorphic map, also called a branch point in the target, is a value $f(p)$ of some ramification point.

Let $B$ be the finite set of branch values and put $R=f^{-1}(B)$. For every $w\notin B$, all points of $f^{-1}(w)$ have local degree one, so the holomorphic inverse function theorem supplies disjoint neighbourhoods on which $f$ is biholomorphic. Compactness of the fibre lets their target neighbourhoods be intersected to one evenly covered neighbourhood of $w$. Henceis an unramified covering map. Here the displayed restriction requires $R=f^{-1}(B)$; if “ramification point” is reserved only for points with $e_p>1$, then the source deletion must be written $f^{-1}(B)$.

The monodromy theorem says that analytic continuations along endpoint-fixed homotopic paths have the same terminal germ. Equivalently here, the path lifting theorem lifts a loop $\gamma$ based at $w\notin B$ from each point of $f^{-1}(w)$; taking the endpoint of each lift permutes that fibre. The permutation depends only on $[\gamma ]\in {\pi }_1({\mathbb{C}}_{\infty }\setminus B,w)$, giving the monodromy group of a covering.

For the stated function, make the Möbius change of coordinateThenThe critical points are $t=0,\pm 1/\sqrt{2},\infty$, with branch valuesA loop around $0$ interchanges the two roots born from $t=0$, so its branch cycle is a transposition. A loop around $-1/4$ simultaneously interchanges the two pairs that collide there, so its branch cycle is a product of two disjoint transpositions. With a suitable labelling these areThey generate a transitive group of order eight; their product is a four-cycle. Therefore the full monodromy group isthe dihedral group in its action on the four vertices of a square.