Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
For $p$ a prime, a $p$-typical cover of a connected scheme on which $p\,=\,0$ is a finite étale cover whose monodromy group (i.e.,the Galois group of its normal closure) is a $p$-group. The geometry of such covers exhibits some unexpectedly pleasant behaviors; building on work of Katz, we demonstrate some of these. These include a criterion for when a morphism induces an isomorphism of the $p$-typical quotients of the étale fundamental groups, and a decomposition theorem for $p$-typical covers of polynomial rings over an algebraically closed field.