Specialization results in Galois theory

Abstract: The paper has three main applications. The first one is this Hilbert-Grunwald statement. If $f:X\rightarrow \Pp^1$ is a degree $n$ $\Qq$-cover with monodromy group $S_n$ over $\bar\Qq$, and finitely many suitably big primes $p$ are given with partitions ${d_{p,1},..., d_{p,s_p}}$ of $n$, there exist infinitely many specializations of $f$ at points $t_0\in \Qq$ that are degree $n$ field extensions with residue degrees $d_{p,1},..., d_{p,s_p}$ at each prescribed prime $p$. The second one provides a description of the se-pa-ra-ble closure of a PAC field $k$ of characteristic $p\not=2$: it is generated by all elements $y$ such that $y^m-y\in k$ for some $m\geq 2$. The third one involves Hurwitz moduli spaces and concerns fields of definition of covers. A common tool is a criterion for an \'etale algebra $\prod_lE_l/k$ over a field $k$ to be the specialization of a $k$-cover $f:X\rightarrow B$ at some point $t_0\in B(k)$. The question is reduced to finding $k$-rational points on a certain $k$-variety, and then studied over the various fields $k$ of our applications.