Tamely Ramified Covers of the Projective Line with Alternating and Symmetric Monodromy

Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p$ and let $X$ the projective line over $k$ with three points removed. We investigate which finite groups $G$ can arise as the monodromy group of finite {e}tale covers of $X$ that are tamely ramified over the three removed points. This provides new information about the tame fundamental group of the projective line. In particular, we show that for each prime $pge 5$, there are families of tamely ramified covers with monodromy the symmetric group $S_n$ or alternating group $A_n$ for infinitely many $n$. These covers come from the moduli spaces of elliptic curves with $PSL_2(mathbb{F}_ell)$-structure, and the analysis uses work of Bourgain, Gamburd, and Sarnak, and adapts work of Meiri and Puder, about Markoff triples modulo $ell$.