FUNDAMENTAL GROUP OF SOME GENUS-2 FIBRATIONS AND APPLICATIONS

Abstract

We will prove that given a genus-2 fibration f : X → C on a smooth projective surface X such that b1(X) = b1(C) + 2, the fundamental group of X is almost isomorphic to π1(C) × π1(E), where E is an elliptic curve. We will also verify the Shafarevich Conjecture on holomorphic convexity of the universal cover of surfaces X with genus-2 fibration X → C such that b1(X) > b1(C).