We describe an algorithm that determines a set of unramified covers of a given hyperelliptic curve, with the property that any rational point will lift to one of the covers. In particular, if the algorithm returns an empty set, then the hyperelliptic curve has no rational points. This provides a relatively efficiently tested criterion for solvability of hyperelliptic curves. We also discuss applications of this algorithm to curves of genus 1 and to curves with rational points.
We describe a qualitative improvement to the algorithms for performing 2-descents to obtain information regarding the Mordell-Weil rank of a hyperelliptic Jacobian. The improvement has been implemented in the Magma Computational Algebra System and as a result, the rank bounds for hyperelliptic Jacobians are now sharper and have the conjectured parity.
Let C : y^2=f(x) be a hyperelliptic curve defined over the rationals. Let K be a number field and suppose f factors over K as a product of irreducible polynomials f=f_1 f_2...f_r. We shall define a "Selmer set" corresponding to this factorization with the property that if it is empty then the curve C has no rational points. We shall demonstrate the effectiveness of our new method by solving the generalized Fermat equation with signature (3,4,5), which is unassailable via the previously existing methods.
This paper is devoted to the explicit description of the Galois descent obstruction for hyperelliptic curves of arbitrary genus whose reduced automorphism group is cyclic of order coprime to the characteristic of their ground field. Along the way, we obtain an arithmetic criterion for the existence of a hyperelliptic descent. The obstruction is described by the so-called arithmetic dihedral invariants of the curves in question. If it vanishes, then the use of these invariants also allows the explicit determination of a model over the field of moduli; if not, then one obtains a hyperelliptic mo…
We show how to speed up the computation of isomorphisms of hyperelliptic curves by using covariants. We also obtain new theoretical and practical results concerning models of these curves over their field of moduli.
In the previous paper, Hirakawa and the author determined the set of rational points of a certain infinite family of hyperelliptic curves $C^{(p;i,j)}$ parametrized by a prime number $p$ and integers $i$, $j$. In the proof, we used the standard $2$-descent argument and a Lutz-Nagell theorem that was proven by Grant. In this paper, we extend the above work. By using the descent theorem, the proof for $j=2$ is reduced to elliptic curves of rank $0$ that are independent of $p$. On the other hand, for odd $j$, we consider another hyperelliptic curve $C'^{(p;i,j)}$ whose Jacobian variety is isogeno…
For the hyperelliptic curve C_p with equation y^2=x(x-2p)(x-p)(x+p)(x+2p) with p a prime number, we discuss bounds for the rank of its Jacobian over Q, find many cases having 2-torsion in the associated Shafarevich-Tate group, and we present some results on rational points of C_p.
We show that for any elliptic curve (with j invariant not 0 or 1728) over any field of characteristic different from 2 and 3, there exists an hyperelliptic curve H of genus 5 with two independent maps to the given elliptic curve. We also show that, if we want such a curve to be just geometrically hyperelliptic, so having a degree two map to a conic, then there are some with genus 3.
We study the unipotent Albanese map appearing in the non-abelian Chabauty method of Minhyong Kim. In particular we explore the explicit computation of the $p$-adic de Rham period map $j^{dr}_n$ on elliptic and hyperelliptic curves over number fields via their universal unipotent connections $\mathcal{U}$. Several algorithms forming part of the computation of finite level versions $j^{dr}_n$ of the unipotent Albanese maps are presented. The computation of the logarithmic extension of $\mathcal{U}$ in general requires a description in terms of an open covering, and can be regarded as a simple ex…
Let C/Q be a curve of genus three, given as a double cover of a plane conic. Such a curve is hyperelliptic over the algebraic closure of Q, but may not have a hyperelliptic model of the usual form over Q. We describe an algorithm that computes the local zeta functions of C at all odd primes of good reduction up to a prescribed bound N. The algorithm relies on an adaptation of the "accumulating remainder tree" to matrices with entries in a quadratic field. We report on an implementation, and compare its performance to previous algorithms for the ordinary hyperelliptic case.
We complete the computation of all $\mathbb{Q}$-rational points on all the $64$ maximal Atkin-Lehner quotients $X_0(N)^*$ such that the quotient is hyperelliptic. To achieve this, we use a combination of various methods, namely the classical Chabauty--Coleman, elliptic curve Chabauty, quadratic Chabauty, and the bielliptic quadratic Chabauty method combined with the Mordell-Weil sieve. Additionally, for square-free levels $N$, we classify all $\mathbb{Q}$-rational points as cusps, CM points (including their CM field and $j$-invariants) and exceptional ones. We further indicate how to use this …
It has recently been shown that cryptographic trilinear maps are sufficient for achieving indistinguishability obfuscation. In this paper we develop a method for constructing such maps on the Weil descent (restriction) of abelian varieties over finite fields, including the Jacobian varieties of hyperelliptic curves and elliptic curves. The security of these candidate cryptographic trilinear maps raises several interesting questions, including the computational complexity of a trapdoor discrete logarithm problem.
This article deals with a quantitative aspect of Hilbert's seventeenth problem: producing a collection of real polynomials in two variables of degree 8 in one variable which are positive but are not a sum of three squares of rational fractions. As explained by Huisman and Mahe, a given monic squarefree positive polynomial in two variables x and y of degree in y divisible by 4 is a sum of three squares of rational fractions if and only if the jabobian variety of some hyperelliptic curve (associated to P) has an "antineutral" point. Using this criterium, we follow a method developped by Cassels,…
We establish a connection between torsion packets on curves of genus $2$ and pairs of elliptic curves realized as double covers of the projective line $\mathbb{P}_{x}^{1}$ that have many common torsion $x$-coordinates. This can be used to show that the set of common torsion $x$-coordinates has size at least $22$ infinitely often and has $34$ elements in some cases. We also explain how we obtained the current record example of a hyperelliptic torsion packet on a genus $2$ curve.
Let $Σ$ be a smooth projective surface, let $f' : S' \to Σ$ be a double cover of $Σ$ and let $μ: S \to S'$ be the canonical resolution. Put $f = f'\circμ$. An irreducible curve $C$ on $Σ$ is said to be a splitting curve with respect to $f$ if $f^*C$ is of the form $C^+ + C^- + E$, where $C^- = σ_f^*C^+$, $σ_f$ being the covering transformation of $f$ and all irreducible components of $E$ are contained in the exceptional set of $μ$. In this article, we show that a kind of "reciprocity" of splitting curves holds for a certain pair of curves on rational ruled surfaces. As an application, we consi…
In this paper we provide an explicit construction of a $distinctive$ multiple Dirichlet series associated to products of quadratic Dirichlet L-series, which we believe should be tightly connected to a generalized metaplectic Whittaker function on the double cover of a Kac-Moody group. To do so, we first impose a set of axioms, independent of any group of functional equations, which the aforementioned object should satisfy. As a consequence, we deduce that the coefficients of the $p$-parts of the multiple Dirichlet series satisfy certain recurrence relations. These relations lead to a family of…
In this paper, we introduce an algorithm for computing p-adic integrals on bad reduction hyperelliptic curves. For bad reduction curves, there are two notions of p-adic integration: Berkovich-Coleman integrals which can be performed locally; and abelian integrals with desirable number-theoretic properties. By covering a bad reduction hyperelliptic curve by annuli and basic wide open sets, we reduce the computation of Berkovich-Coleman integrals to the known algorithms on good reduction hyperelliptic curves. These are due to Balakrishnan, Bradshaw, and Kedlaya, and to Balakrishnan and Besser fo…
Given a curve X of the form y^p = h(x) over a number field, one can use descents to obtain explicit bounds on the Mordell-Weil rank of the Jacobian or to prove that the curve has no rational points. We show how, having performed such a descent, one can easily obtain additional information which may rule out the existence of rational divisors on X of degree prime to p. This can yield sharper bounds on the Mordell-Weil rank by demonstrating the existence of nontrivial elements in the Shafarevich-Tate group. As an example we compute the Mordell-Weil rank of the Jacobian of a genus 4 curve over Q …
There are few constructions of square-integrable automorphic functions on metaplectic groups. Such functions may be obtained by the residues of certain Eisenstein series on covers of groups, "theta functions," but the Fourier coefficients of these residues are not well-understood, even for low degree covers of $GL_2$. Patterson and Chinta-Friedberg-Hoffstein proposed conjectured relations for the Fourier coefficients of the $GL_2$ quartic and sextic theta functions (resp.), each obtained from a conjectured equality of non-Eulerian Dirichlet series. In this article we propose a new framework fo…
We show that there is a bound depending only on g and [K:Q] for the number of K-rational points on a hyperelliptic curve C of genus g over a number field K such that the Mordell-Weil rank r of its Jacobian is at most g-3. If K = Q, an explicit bound is 8 r g + 33 (g - 1) + 1. The proof is based on Chabauty's method; the new ingredient is an estimate for the number of zeros of a logarithm in a p-adic `annulus' on the curve, which generalizes the standard bound on disks. The key observation is that for a p-adic field k, the set of k-points on C can be covered by a collection of disks and annuli …
We study fluctuations in the number of points of $\ell$-cyclic covers of the projective line over the finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ when $q \equiv 1 \mod \ell$ is fixed and the genus tends to infinity. The distribution is given as a sum of $q+1$ i.i.d. random variables. This was settled for hyperelliptic curves by Kurlberg and Rudnick, while statistics were obtained for certain components of the moduli space of $\ell$-cyclic covers by Bucur, David, Feigon and Lalín. In this paper, we obtain statistics for the distribution of the number of points as the covers vary over the full moduli space of $…
We study the distribution of the traces of the Frobenius endomorphism of genus $g$ curves which are quartic non-cyclic covers of $\mathbb{P}^{1}_{\mathbb{F}_{q}}$, as the curve varies in an irreducible component of the moduli space. We show that for $q$ fixed, the limiting distribution of the trace of Frobenius equals the sum of $q + 1$ independent random discrete variables. We also show that when both $g$ and $q$ go to infinity, the normalized trace has a standard complex Gaussian distribution. Finally, we extend these computations to the general case of arbitrary covers of $\mathbb{P}^{1}_{\…
We are concerned with the question of determining the set $C(\mathbb{Q})$, where $C$ is a curve defined by an equation of the form $y^q=f(x)$, where $q$ is an odd prime and $f$ is a polynomial defined over $\mathbb{Q}$. This question can often be answered using a set which encapsulates information about local solubility of a particular collection of covers of $C$. We define this set and show how to compute it.
We prove a result that finishes the study of primitive arithmetic progressions consisting of squares and fifth powers that was carried out by Hajdu and Tengely in a recent paper: The only arithmetic progression in coprime integers of the form (a^2, b^2, c^2, d^5) is (1, 1, 1, 1). For the proof, we first reduce the problem to that of determining the sets of rational points on three specific hyperelliptic curves of genus 4. A 2-cover descent computation shows that there are no rational points on two of these curves. We find generators for a subgroup of finite index of the Mordell-Weil group of t…
Given a genus $2$ curve $C$ with a rational Weierstrass point defined over a number field, we construct a family of genus $5$ curves that realize descent by maximal unramified abelian two-covers of $C$, and describe explicit models of the isogeny classes of their Jacobians as restrictions of scalars of elliptic curves. All the constructions of this paper are accompanied by explicit formulas and implemented in Magma and/or SageMath. We apply these algorithms in combination with elliptic Chabauty to a dataset of 7692 genus $2$ quintic curves over $\mathbb{Q}$ of Mordell-Weil rank $2$ or $3$ whos…
Let $E$ be an elliptic curve over a number field $K$. Descent calculations on $E$ can be used to find upper bounds for the rank of the Mordell-Weil group, and to compute covering curves that assist in the search for generators of this group. The general method of 4-descent, developed in the PhD theses of Siksek, Womack and Stamminger, has been implemented in Magma (when $K={\mathbb Q}$) and works well for elliptic curves with sufficiently small discriminant. By extending work of Bremner and Cassels, we describe the improvements that can be made when $E$ has a rational 2-torsion point. In parti…
Let $X$ be a smooth, projective and geometrically connected curve of genus at least two, defined over a number field. In 1984, Szpiro conjectured that $X$ has a "small point". In this paper we prove that if $X$ is a cyclic cover of prime degree of the projective line, then $X$ has infinitely many "small points". In particular, we establish the first cases of Szpiro's small points conjecture, including the genus two case and the hyperelliptic case. The proofs use Arakelov theory for arithmetic surfaces and the theory of logarithmic forms.
Let k=F_q be a finite field of characteristic 2. A genus 3 curve C/k has many involutions if the group of k-automorphisms admits a C_2\times C_2 subgroup H (not containing the hyperelliptic involution if C is hyperelliptic). Then C is an Artin-Schreier cover of the three elliptic curves obtained as the quotient of C by the nontrivial involutions of H, and the Jacobian of C is k-isogenous to the product of these three elliptic curves. In this paper we exhibit explicit models for genus 3 curves with many involutions, and we compute explicit equations for the elliptic quotients. We then character…
We show how to transport descent obstructions from the category of covers to the category of varieties. We deduce examples of curves having $\QQ$ as field of moduli, that admit models over every completion of $\QQ$, but have no model over $\QQ$.
We study the endomorphism ring $End(J(C))$ of the complex jacobian $J(C)$ of a curve $y^p=f(x)$ where $p$ is an odd prime and $f(x)$ is a polynomial with complex coefficiens of degree $n>4$ and without multiple roots. Assume that all the coefficients of $f$ lie in a (sub)field $K$ and the Galois group of $f$ over $K$ is either the full symmetric group $S_n$ or the alternating group $A_n$. Then we prove that $End(J(C))$ is the ring of integers in the in the $p$th cyclotomic field, if $p$ is a Fermat prime (e.g., $p=3,5,17,257$). Similar results for $p=2$ (the case of hyperelliptic curves) were …
