Families of hyperelliptic curves with maximal slopes

For each integer g≥2, we construct a family of hyperelliptic curves of genus g whose slope reaches the upper bound obtained by Xiao.     

A remark on hyperelliptic curves

Partially supported by IHES and NSF.     

Tropical hyperelliptic curves

We study the locus of tropical hyperelliptic curves inside the moduli space of tropical curves of genus g. We define a harmonic morphism of metric graphs and prove that a metric graph is hyperelliptic if and only if it admits a harmonic morphism of degree 2 to a metric tree. This generalizes the work of Baker and Norine on combinatorial graphs to the metric case. We then prove that the locus of 2-edge-connected genus g tropical hyperelliptic curves is a (2g?1)-dimensional stacky polyhedral fan whose maximal cells are in bijection with trees on g?1 vertices with maximum valence 3. Finally, we show that the Berkovich skeleton of a classical hyperelliptic plane curve satisfying a certain tropical smoothness condition is a standard ladder of genus g.     

Singular hyperelliptic curves

Singular curves with a morphism of degree two onto a projective line should be classified into two types according as the equipped morphism is separable or not; we call a curve with a separable one a hyperelliptic curve of separable type, and the other a hyperelliptic curve of inseparable type. We give concrete expressions of a hyperelliptic curve of separable type by means of its global “equation” and a hyperelliptic curve of inseparable type by means of its local rings. Furthermore, we discuss about Weierstrass points of a hyperelliptic curve of inseparable type. Received: 26 March 1997 / Revised version: 21 May 1998     

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.     

A new family of maximal curves over a finite field

It has been known for a long time that the Deligne–Lusztig curves associated to the algebraic groups of type and defined over the finite field all have the maximum number of -rational points allowed by the Weil “explicit formulas”, and that these curves are -maximal curves over infinitely many algebraic extensions of . Serre showed that an -rational curve which is -covered by an -maximal curve is also -maximal. This has posed the problem of the existence of -maximal curves other than the Deligne–Lusztig curves and their -subcovers, see for instance Garcia (On curves with many rational points over finite fields. In: Finite Fields with Applications to Coding Theory, Cryptography and Related Areas, pp. 152–163. Springer, Berlin, 2002) and Garcia and Stichtenoth (A maximal curve which is not a Galois subcover of the Hermitan curve. Bull. Braz. Math. Soc. (N.S.) 37, 139–152, 2006). In this paper, a positive answer to this problem is obtained. For every q = n ³ with n = p ^r  > 2, p ≥ 2 prime, we give a simple, explicit construction of an -maximal curve that is not -covered by any -maximal Deligne–Lusztig curve. Furthermore, the -automorphism group Aut has size n ³(n ³ + 1)(n ² − 1)(n ² − n + 1). Interestingly, has a very large -automorphism group with respect to its genus . Research supported by the Italian Ministry MURST, Strutture geometriche, combinatoria e loro applicazioni, PRIN 2006–2007.     

A note on families of hyperelliptic curves

We give a stack-theoretic proof for some results on families of hyperelliptic curves. Received: 5 February 2008     

Compactifying moduli of hyperelliptic curves

We construct a new compactification of the moduli spaceH _g of smooth hyperelliptic curves of genusg. We compare our compactification with other well-known remarkable compactifications ofH _g. The author was partially supported byCNP _q, Proc. 151610/2005-3, and by Faperj, Proc. E-26/152-629/2005.     

Higher syzygies of hyperelliptic curves

Let X be a hyperelliptic curve of arithmetic genus g and let f:X→P¹ be the hyperelliptic involution map of X. In this paper we study higher syzygies of linearly normal embeddings of X of degree d≤2g. Note that the minimal free resolution of X of degree ≥2g+1 is already completely known. Let A=f^∗O_P¹(1), and let L be a very ample line bundle on X of degree d≤2g. For , we call the pair (m,d−2m)the factorization type ofL. Our main result is that the Hartshorne-Rao module and the graded Betti numbers of the linearly normal curve embedded by |L| are precisely determined by the factorization type of L.     

On double coverings of hyperelliptic curves

We prove various properties of varieties of special linear systems on double coverings of hyperelliptic curves. We show and determine the irreducibility, generically reducedness and singular loci of the variety for bi-elliptic curves and double coverings of genus two curves. Similar results for double coverings of hyperelliptic curves of genus h≥3 are also presented.     

Explicit Mumford isomorphism for hyperelliptic curves

Using an explicit version of the Mumford isomorphism on the moduli space of hyperelliptic curves we derive a closed formula for the Arakelov-Green function of a hyperelliptic Riemann surface evaluated at its Weierstrass points.     

Imaginary automorphisms on real hyperelliptic curves

A real hyperelliptic curve X is said to be Gaussian if there is an automorphism such that , where [-1] denotes the hyperelliptic involution on X. Gaussian curves arise naturally in several contexts, for example when one studies real Jacobians. In the present paper, we study the properties of Gaussian curves and we describe their moduli spaces.