Towers of surfaces dominated by products of curves and elliptic curves of large rank over function fields

With the goal of producing elliptic curves and higher-dimensional abelian varieties of large rank over function fields, we provide a geometric construction of towers of surfaces dominated by products of curves; in the case where the surface is defined over a finite field our construction yields families of smooth, projective curves whose Jacobians satisfy the conjecture of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer. As an immediate application of our work we employ known results on analytic ranks of abelian varieties defined in towers of function field extensions, producing a one-parameter family of elliptic curves over Fq(t1/d) whose members obtain arbitrarily large rank as d→∞.     

Pesenti-Szpiro inequality for optimal elliptic curves

We study Pesenti-Szpiro inequality in the case of elliptic curves over F_q(t) which occur as subvarieties of Jacobian varieties of Drinfeld modular curves. In general, we obtain an upper-bound on the degrees of minimal discriminants of such elliptic curves in terms of the degrees of their conductors and q. In the special case when the level is prime, we bound the degrees of discriminants only in terms of the degrees of conductors. As a preliminary step in the proof of this latter result we generalize a construction (due to Gekeler and Reversat) of 1-dimensional optimal quotients of Drinfeld Jacobians.     

Rational torsion of J0(N) for hyperelliptic modular curves and families of Jacobians of genus 2 and genus 3 curves with a rational point of order 5,7 or 10

We describe a way of constructing Jacobians of hyperelliptic curves of genus g ≥ 2, defined over a number field, whose Jacobians have a rational point of order of some (well chosen) integer l ≥ g + 1; the method is based on a polynomial identity. Using this approach we construct new families of genus 2 curves defined over — which contain the modular curves X₀(31) (and X₀(22) as a by-product) and X₀(29), the Jacobians of which have a rational point of order 5 and 7 respectively. We also construct a new family of hyperelliptic genus 3 curves defined over —, which contains the modular curve X₀(41), the Jacobians of which have a rational point of order 10. Finally we show that all hyperelliptic modular curves X₀(N) with N a prime number fit into the described strategy, except for N = 37 in which case we give another explanation. The authors thank the FNR (project FNR/04/MA6/11) for their support.     

Counting hyperelliptic curves

We find a closed formula for the number hyp(g) of hyperelliptic curves of genus g over a finite field k=Fq of odd characteristic. These numbers hyp(g) are expressed as a polynomial in q with integer coefficients that depend on g and the set of divisors of q−1 and q+1. As a by-product we obtain a closed formula for the number of self-dual curves of genus g. A hyperelliptic curve is defined to be self-dual if it is k-isomorphic to its own hyperelliptic twist.     

Generating pairing-friendly parameters for the CM construction of genus 2 curves over prime fields

We present two contributions in this paper. First, we give a quantitative analysis of the scarcity of pairing-friendly genus 2 curves. This result is an improvement relative to prior work which estimated the density of pairing-friendly genus 2 curves heuristically. Second, we present a method for generating pairing-friendly parameters for which ${\rho\approx 8}$ , where ρ is a measure of efficiency in pairing-based cryptography. This method works by solving a system of equations given in terms of coefficients of the Frobenius element. The algorithm is easy to understand and implement.     

On the tensor rank of the multiplication in the finite fields

First, we prove the existence of certain types of non-special divisors of degree g−1 in the algebraic function fields of genus g defined over Fq. Then, it enables us to obtain upper bounds of the tensor rank of the multiplication in any extension of quadratic finite fields Fq by using Shimura and modular curves defined over Fq. From the preceding results, we obtain upper bounds of the tensor rank of the multiplication in any extension of certain non-quadratic finite fields Fq, notably in the case of F₂. These upper bounds attain the best asymptotic upper bounds of Shparlinski-Tsfasman-Vladut [I.E. Shparlinski, M.A. Tsfasman, S.G. Vladut, Curves with many points and multiplication in finite fields, in: Lecture Notes in Math., vol. 1518, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1992, pp. 145-169].     

M-P invertible matrices and unitary groups over Fq 2

The Moor-Penrose generalized inverses (M-P inverses for short) of matrices over a finite field F_q ² which is a generalization of the Moor-Penrose generalized inverses over the complex field, are studied in the present paper. Some necessary and sufficient conditions for anm xn matrixA over F_q ² having an M-P inverse are obtained, which make clear the set ofm xn matrices over F_q ² having M-P inverses and reduce the problem of constructing and enumerating the M-P invertible matrices to that of constructing and enumerating the non-isotropic subspaces with respect to the unitary group. Based on this reduction, both the construction problem and the enumeration problem are solved by borrowing the results in geometry of unitary groups over finite fields.     

Zeta function of the projective curveaY 21 =bX 21 +cZ 21 over a class of finite fields, for odd primesl

Letp andl be rational primes such thatl is odd and the order ofp modulol is even. For such primesp andl, and fore = l, 2l, we consider the non-singular projective curvesaY ²¹ =bX ²¹ +cZ ²¹ defined over finite fields F_q such thatq = p ^α? l(mode).We see that the Fermat curves correspond precisely to those curves among each class (fore = l, 2l), that are maximal or minimal over F_q. We observe that each Fermat prime gives rise to explicit maximal and minimal curves over finite fields of characteristic 2. Fore = 2l, we explicitly determine the ζ -function(s) for this class of curves, over F_q, as rational functions in the variablet, for distinct cases ofa, b, andc, in F _q ^* . Theζ-function in each case is seen to satisfy the Weil conjectures (now theorems) for this concrete class of curves. Fore = l, 2l, we determine the class numbers for the function fields associated to each class of curves over F_q. As a consequence, when the field of definition of the curve(s) is fixed, this provides concrete information on the growth of class numbers for constant field extensions of the function field(s) of the curve(s).     

2-Descent on elliptic curves and rational points on certain Kummer surfaces

The first part of this paper further refines the methodology for 2-descents on elliptic curves with rational 2-division points which was introduced in [J.-L. Colliot-Thélène, A.N. Skorobogatov, Peter Swinnerton-Dyer, Hasse principle for pencils of curves of genus one whose Jacobians have rational 2-division points, Invent. Math. 134 (1998) 579-650]. To describe the rest, let E⁽¹⁾ and E⁽²⁾ be elliptic curves, D⁽¹⁾ and D⁽²⁾ their respective 2-coverings, and X be the Kummer surface attached to D⁽¹⁾×D⁽²⁾. In the appendix we study the Brauer-Manin obstruction to the existence of rational points on X. In the second part of the paper, in which we further assume that the two elliptic curves have all their 2-division points rational, we obtain sufficient conditions for X to contain rational points; and we consider how these conditions are related to Brauer-Manin obstructions. This second part depends on the hypothesis that the relevent Tate-Shafarevich group is finite, but it does not require Schinzel's Hypothesis.     

An algorithm to compute the number of points on elliptic curves ofj-invariant 0 or 1728 over a finite field

We present an algorithm to compute the number ofF _q -rational points on elliptic curves defined over a finite fieldF _q , withj-invariant 0 or 1728. This algorithm takesO(log³ p) bit operations, werep is the characteristic ofF _q .     

Fluctuations in the number of points on smooth plane curves over finite fields

In this note, we study the fluctuations in the number of points on smooth projective plane curves over a finite field Fq as q is fixed and the genus varies. More precisely, we show that these fluctuations are predicted by a natural probabilistic model, in which the points of the projective plane impose independent conditions on the curve. The main tool we use is a geometric sieving process introduced by Poonen (2004) [8].     

Curves with a prescribed number of rational points

We show that for any finite field Fq, any N?0 and all sufficiently large integers g there exist curves over Fq of genus g having exactly N rational points.     

On a conjecture of Brouwer involving the connectivity of strongly regular graphs

In this paper, we study a conjecture of Andries E. Brouwer from 1996 regarding the minimum number of vertices of a strongly regular graph whose removal disconnects the graph into non-singleton components.We show that strongly regular graphs constructed from copolar spaces and from the more general spaces called Δ-spaces are counterexamples to Brouwer?s Conjecture. Using J.I. Hall?s characterization of finite reduced copolar spaces, we find that the triangular graphs T(m), the symplectic graphs Sp(2r,q) over the field Fq (for any q prime power), and the strongly regular graphs constructed from the hyperbolic quadrics O⁺(2r,2) and from the elliptic quadrics O⁻(2r,2) over the field F₂, respectively, are counterexamples to Brouwer?s Conjecture. For each of these graphs, we determine precisely the minimum number of vertices whose removal disconnects the graph into non-singleton components. While we are not aware of an analogue of Hall?s characterization theorem for Δ-spaces, we show that complements of the point graphs of certain finite generalized quadrangles are point graphs of Δ-spaces and thus, yield other counterexamples to Brouwer?s Conjecture.We prove that Brouwer?s Conjecture is true for many families of strongly regular graphs including the conference graphs, the generalized quadrangles GQ(q,q) graphs, the lattice graphs, the Latin square graphs, the strongly regular graphs with smallest eigenvalue −2 (except the triangular graphs) and the primitive strongly regular graphs with at most 30 vertices except for few cases.We leave as an open problem determining the best general lower bound for the minimum size of a disconnecting set of vertices of a strongly regular graph, whose removal disconnects the graph into non-singleton components.     

On the Tate-Shafarevich groups of certain elliptic curves

The Tate-Shafarevich groups of certain elliptic curves over Fq(t) are related, via étale cohomology, to the group of points of an elliptic curve with complex multiplication. The Cassels-Tate pairing is computed under this identification.     

The statistics of the number of rational points in the hyperelliptic ensemble over a finite field

We study the distribution of the numbers of \({F_{{q^r}}}\)-rational points of hyperelliptic curves over a finite field F_q in odd characteristic. This extends the result of Kurlberg and Rudnick [4]. We also study the distribution of the number of \({F_{{q^r}}}\)-rational points and the trace of high powers of the Frobenius class of real hyperelliptic curves over a finite field F_q in even characteristic.     

Non-constant curves of genus 2 with infinite pro-Galois covers

For every odd prime number p, we give examples of non-constant smooth families of curves of genus 2 over fields of characteristic p which have pro-Galois (pro-étale) covers of infinite degree with geometrically connected fibers. The Jacobians of the curves are isomorphic to products of elliptic curves.     

On some questions related to the Gauss conjecture for function fields

We show that, for any finite field Fq, there exist infinitely many real quadratic function fields over Fq such that the numerator of their zeta function is a separable polynomial. As pointed out by Anglès, this is a necessary condition for the existence, for any finite field Fq, of infinitely many real function fields over Fq with ideal class number one (the so-called Gauss conjecture for function fields). We also show conditionally the existence of infinitely many real quadratic function fields over Fq such that the numerator of their zeta function is an irreducible polynomial.     

The Maximum or Minimum Number of Rational Points on Genus Three Curves over Finite Fields

We show that for all finite fields F_q, there exists a curve C over F_q of genus 3 such that the number of rational points on C is within 3 of the Serre–Weil upper or lower bound. For some q, we also obtain improvements on the upper bound for the number of rational points on a genus 3 curve over F_q.with an Appendix by Jean-Pierre Serre     

Torsion points on elliptic curves over function fields and a theorem of Igusa

If F   is a global function field of characteristic p>3$p>3$, we employ Tate's theory of analytic uniformization to give an alternative proof of a theorem of Igusa describing the image of the natural Galois representation on torsion points of non-isotrivial elliptic curves defined over F. Along the way, using basic properties of Faltings heights of elliptic curves, we offer a detailed proof of the function field analogue of a classical theorem of Shafarevich according to which there are only finitely many F-isomorphism classes of admissible elliptic curves defined over F with good reduction outside a fixed finite set of places of F. We end the paper with an application to torsion points rational over abelian extensions of F.