The Grothendieck Theory of Dessins d'Enfants

The focus of this book is on combinatorial objects, dessins d'enfants, which are drawings with vertices and edges on topological surfaces. Their interest lies in their relation with the set of algebraic curves defined over the closure of the rationals, and the corresponding action of the absolute Galois group on them. The articles contained here unite basic elements of the subject with recent advances. Topics covered include: the explicity association of algebraic curves to dessins, the stu...