The Brauer-Manin obstruction for sections of the fundamental group

We introduce the notion of a Brauer-Manin obstruction for sections of the fundamental group extension and establish Grothendieck’s section conjecture for an open subset of the Reichardt-Lind curve.     

Explicit Heegner points: Kolyvagin's conjecture and non-trivial elements in the Shafarevich-Tate group

Kolyvagin used Heegner points to associate a system of cohomology classes to an elliptic curve over Q and conjectured that the system contains a non-trivial class. His conjecture has profound implications on the structure of Selmer groups. We provide new computational and theoretical evidence for Kolyvagin's conjecture. More precisely, we explicitly approximate Heegner points over ring class fields and use these points to give evidence for the conjecture for specific elliptic curves of rank two. We explain how Kolyvagin's conjecture implies that if the analytic rank of an elliptic curve is at least two then the Zp-corank of the corresponding Selmer group is at least two as well. We also use explicitly computed Heegner points to produce non-trivial classes in the Shafarevich-Tate group.     

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].     

The Néron model over the Igusa curves

We analyze the geometry of rational p-division points in degenerating families of elliptic curves in characteristic p. We classify the possible Kodaira symbols and determine for the Igusa moduli problem the reduction type of the universal curve. Special attention is paid to characteristic 2 and 3, where wild ramification and stacky phenomena show up.     

Divisibility of L-polynomials for a family of Artin–Schreier curves

In this paper we consider the curves $C_k^{(p,a)}:y^p?y=x^{p^k+1}+ax$ defined over ${\mathbb{F}}_p$ and give a positive answer to a conjecture about a divisibility condition on L-polynomials of the curves $C_k^{(p,a)}$. Our proof involves finding an exact formula for the number of ${\mathbb{F}}_{p^n}$-rational points on $C_k^{(p,a)}$ for all n, and uses a result we proved elsewhere about the number of rational points on supersingular curves.     

Complete classification of torsion of elliptic curves over quadratic cyclotomic fields

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In a previous paper Najman (in press) [9], the author examined the possible torsions of an elliptic curve over the quadratic fields Q(i) and . Although all the possible torsions were found if the elliptic curve has rational coefficients, we were unable to eliminate some possibilities for the torsion if the elliptic curve has coefficients that are not rational. In this note, by finding all the points of two hyperelliptic curves over Q(i) and , we solve this problem completely and thus obtain a classification of all possible torsions of elliptic curves over Q(i) and .

Video

For a video summary of this paper, please click here or visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPhCkJTGB_o.     

Galois points for a plane curve in characteristic two

Let C$C$ be an irreducible plane curve. A point P$P$ in the projective plane is said to be Galois with respect to C$C$ if the function field extension induced by the projection from P$P$ is Galois. We denote by δ^′(C)${\delta }^{\prime }\left(C\right)$ the number of Galois points contained in P²?C${\mathbb{P}}^2?C$. In this article we will present two results with respect to determination of δ^′(C)${\delta }^{\prime }\left(C\right)$ in characteristic two. First we determine δ^′(C)${\delta }^{\prime }\left(C\right)$ for smooth plane curves of degree a power of two. In particular, we give a new characterization of the Klein quartic in terms of δ^′(C)${\delta }^{\prime }\left(C\right)$. Second we determine δ^′(C)${\delta }^{\prime }\left(C\right)$ for a generalization of the Klein quartic, which is related to an example of Artin–Schreier curves whose automorphism group exceeds the Hurwitz bound. This curve has many Galois points.     

Cubic surfaces violating the Hasse principle are Zariski dense in the moduli scheme

We construct new examples of cubic surfaces, for which the Hasse principle fails. Thereby we show that, over every number field, the counterexamples to the Hasse principle are Zariski dense in the moduli scheme of non-singular cubic surfaces.     

On the torsion of Jacobians of principal modular curves of level 3<Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis></Superscript>

We demonstrate that the 3-power torsion points of the Jacobians of the principal modular curves X(3ⁿ) are fixed by the kernel of the canonical outer Galois representation of the pro-3 fundamental group of the projective line minus three points. The proof proceeds by demonstrating the curves in question satisfy a two-part criterion given by Anderson and Ihara. Two proofs of the second part of the criterion are provided; the first relies on a theorem of Shimura, while the second uses the moduli interpretation. Received: 30 September 2005     

Motivic Serre invariants of curves

In this article, we generalize the theory of motivic integration on formal schemes topologically of finite type and the notion of motivic Serre invariant, to a relative point of view. We compute the relative motivic Serre invariant for curves defined over the field of fractions of a complete discrete valuation ring R of equicharacteristic zero. One aim of this study is to understand the behavior of motivic Serre invariants under ramified extension of the ring R. Thanks to our constructions, we obtain, in particular, an expression for the generating power series, whose coefficients are the motivic Serre invariant associated to a curve, computed on a tower of ramified extensions of R. We give an interpretation of this series in terms of the motivic zeta function of Denef and Loeser.     

Computing the Selmer group of an isogeny between Abelian varieties using a further isogeny to a Jacobian

This article describes an algorithm for computing the Selmer group of an isogeny between abelian varieties. This algorithm applies when there is an isogeny from the image abelian variety to the Jacobian of a curve. The use of an auxiliary Jacobian simplifies the determination of locally trivial cohomology classes. An example is presented where the rational solutions to x⁴+(y²+1)(x+y)=0 are determined.     

A lower bound for the canonical height on elliptic curves over abelian extensions

Let E/K be an elliptic curve defined over a number field, let ? be the canonical height on E, and let K^ab/K be the maximal abelian extension of K. Extending work of M. Baker (IMRN 29 (2003) 1571-1582), we prove that there is a constant C(E/K)>0 so that every nontorsion point P∈E(K^ab) satisfies .     

The integral monodromy of hyperelliptic and trielliptic curves

We compute the and monodromy of every irreducible component of the moduli spaces of hyperelliptic and trielliptic curves. In particular, we provide a proof that the monodromy of the moduli space of hyperelliptic curves of genus g is the symplectic group . We prove that the monodromy of the moduli space of trielliptic curves with signature (r,s) is the special unitary group . Rachel Pries was partially supported by NSF grant DMS-04-00461.     

Further examples of maximal curves

It is shown that the curve over F_q²ⁿ with n≥3 odd, that generalizes Serre’s curve y⁴+y=x³ over F₆₄, is also maximal. We also investigate a family of maximal curves over F_q²ⁿ and provide isomorphisms between these curves.     

On the independence of Heegner points associated to distinct quadratic imaginary fields

Let E/Q be an elliptic curve with no CM and a fixed modular parametrization and let be Heegner points attached to the rings of integers of distinct quadratic imaginary fields k₁,…,kr. We prove that if the odd parts of the class numbers of k₁,…,kr are larger than a constant C=C(E,ΦE) depending only on E and ΦE, then the points P₁,…,Pr are independent in .     

Irreducibility of Hurwitz spaces of coverings with one special fiber and monodromy group a Weyl group of type <Emphasis Type="Italic">D</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">d</Emphasis></Subscript>

Let Y be a smooth, connected, projective complex curve. In this paper, we study the Hurwitz spaces which parameterize branched coverings of Y whose monodromy group is a Weyl group of type D _d and whose local monodromies are all reflections except one. We prove the irreducibility of these spaces when and successively we extend the result to curves of genus g ≥ 1.     

K3 surfaces, rational curves, and rational points

We prove that for any of a wide class of elliptic surfaces X defined over a number field k, if there is an algebraic point on X that lies on only finitely many rational curves, then there is an algebraic point on X that lies on no rational curves. In particular, our theorem applies to a large class of elliptic K3 surfaces, which relates to a question posed by Bogomolov in 1981.     

Application of covering techniques to families of curves

Much success in finding rational points on curves has been obtained by using Chabauty's Theorem, which applies when the genus of a curve is greater than the rank of the Mordell-Weil group of the Jacobian. When Chabauty's Theorem does not directly apply to a curve , a recent modification has been to cover the rational points on by those on a covering collection of curves , obtained by pullbacks along an isogeny to the Jacobian; one then hopes that Chabauty's Theorem applies to each . So far, this latter technique has been applied to isolated examples. We apply, for the first time, certain covering techniques to infinite families of curves. We find an infinite family of curves to which Chabauty's Theorem is not applicable, but which can be solved using bielliptic covers, and other infinite families of curves which even resist solution by bielliptic covers. A fringe benefit is an infinite family of Abelian surfaces with non-trivial elements of the Tate-Shafarevich group killed by a bielliptic isogeny.