Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 December 2007
In this paper we suppose G is a finite group acting tamely on a regular projective curve $\mathcal{X}$ over $\mathbb{Z}$ and V is an orthogonal representation of G of dimension 0 and trivial determinant. Our main result determines the sign of the $\epsilon$-constant $\epsilon(\mathcal{X}/G,V)$ in terms of data associated to the archimedean place and to the crossing points of irreducible components of finite fibers of $\mathcal{X}$, subject to certain standard hypotheses about these fibers.