Discriminant Complements and Kernels of Monodromy Representations

We show that the kernel of the monodromy representation for hypersurfaces of degree d and dimension n is large for d at least three with the exception of the cases (d,n) = (3,0) and (3,1). For these the kernel is finite. By "large" we mean a group that admits a homomorphism to a semisimple Lie group of noncompact type with Zariski-dense image. By the Tits alternative a large group contains a free subgroup of rank two.