Automorphism groups of curves over arbitrary fields

Abstract

We show that if $K$ is an arbitrary field and $G$ is a finite group then there exists a curve over $K$ with automorphism group $G$. We also give a positive solution to the weak inverse Galois problem for function fields over an arbitrary field. Finally, we reduce the inverse Galois problem for function fields over an arbitrary field $K$ to the case of $K(T)$.