Results in $p$-adic transcendence theory are applied to two problems in the Chabauty-Coleman method. The first is a question of McCallum and Poonen regarding repeated roots of Coleman integrals. The second is to give lower bounds on the $p$-adic distance between rational points in terms of the heights of a set of Mordell-Weil generators of the Jacobian. We also explain how, in some cases, a conjecture on the 'Wieferich statistics' of Jacobians of curves implies a bound on the height of rational points of curves of small rank, in terms of the usual invariants of the curve and the height of Mordell-Weil generators of its Jacobian. The proof uses the Chabauty-Coleman method, together with effective methods in transcendence theory. We also discuss generalisations to the Chabauty-Kim method.
We construct curves of each genus $g\geq 2$ for which Coleman's effective Chabauty bound is sharp and Coleman's theorem can be applied to determine rational points if the rank condition is satisfied. We give numerous examples of genus two and rank one curves for which Coleman's bound is sharp. Based on one of those curves, we construct an example of a curve of genus five whose rational points are determined using the descent method together with Coleman's theorem.
In this paper, we prove that a Thue equation F(x,y) = h, where h is an integer and F is a polynomial of degree n with integer coefficients and without repeated roots, has at most 2n^3 - 2n - 3 solutions provided that the Mordell-Weil rank of the Jacboian of the corresponding curve is less than (n-1)(n-2)/2. The proof uses the method of Coleman-Chabauty, extended here to apply to arbitrary regular models of curves, along with an explicit construction of a portion of a regular model for the curve corresponding to the Thue equation.
The Chabauty-Coleman method is a $p$-adic method for finding all rational points on curves of genus $g$ whose Jacobians have Mordell-Weil rank $r < g$. Recently, Edixhoven and Lido developed a geometric quadratic Chabauty method that was adapted by Spelier to cover the case of geometric linear Chabauty. We compare the geometric linear Chabauty method and the Chabauty-Coleman method and show that geometric linear Chabauty can outperform Chabauty-Coleman in certain cases. However, as Chabauty-Coleman remains more practical for general computations, we discuss how to strengthen Chabauty-Coleman t…
Building on work by Chabauty from 1941, Coleman proved in 1985 an explicit bound for the number of rational points of a curve $C$ of genus $g\ge 2$ defined over a number field $F$, with Jacobian of rank at most $g-1$. Namely, in the case $F=\mathbb{Q}$, if $p>2g$ is a prime of good reduction, then the number of rational points of $C$ is at most the number of $\mathbb{F}_p$-points plus a contribution coming from the canonical class of $C$. We prove a result analogous to Coleman's bound in the case of a hyperbolic surface $X$ over a number field, embedded in an abelian variety $A$ of rank at mos…
We provably compute the full set of rational points on 1403 Picard curves defined over $\mathbb{Q}$ with Jacobians of Mordell-Weil rank $1$ using the Chabauty-Coleman method. To carry out this computation, we extend Magma code of Balakrishnan and Tuitman for Coleman integration. The new code computes $p$-adic (Coleman) integrals on curves to points defined over number fields where the prime $p$ splits completely and implements effective Chabauty for curves whose Jacobians have infinite order points that are not the image of a rational point under the Abel-Jacobi map. We discuss several interes…
We describe a computation of rational points on genus 3 hyperelliptic curves $C$ defined over $\mathbb{Q}$ whose Jacobians have Mordell-Weil rank 1. Using the method of Chabauty and Coleman, we present and implement an algorithm in Sage to compute the zero locus of two Coleman integrals and analyze the finite set of points cut out by the vanishing of these integrals. We run the algorithm on approximately 17,000 curves from a forthcoming database of genus 3 hyperelliptic curves and discuss some interesting examples where the zero set includes global points not found in $C(\mathbb{Q})$.
Let X be a curve over a number field K with genus g>=2, $\pp$ a prime of O_K over an unramified rational prime p>2r, J the Jacobian of X, r=rank J(K), and $\scrX$ a regular proper model of X at $\pp$. Suppose r<g. We prove that #X(K)<=#\scrX(F_{\pp})+2r, extending the refined version of the Chabauty-Coleman bound to the case of bad reduction. The new technical insight is to isolate variants of the classical rank of a divisor on a curve which are better suited for singular curves and which satisfy Clifford's theorem.
We give the first explicit examples beyond the Chabauty-Coleman method where Kim's nonabelian Chabauty program determines the set of rational points of a curve defined over $\mathbb{Q}$ or a quadratic number field. We accomplish this by studying the role of $p$-adic heights in explicit nonabelian Chabauty.
The Chabauty--Kim method is a method for finding rational points on curves under certain technical conditions, generalising Chabauty's proof of the Mordell conjecture for curves with Mordell--Weil rank less than their genus. We show how the Chabauty--Kim method, when these technical conditions are satisfied in depth 2, may be applied to bound the number of rational points on a curve of higher rank. This provides a nonabelian generalisation of Coleman's effective Chabauty theorem.
Let $X/\mathbb{Q}$ be a curve of genus $g \ge 2$ with Jacobian $J$ and let $\ell$ be a prime of good reduction. Using Selmer varieties, Kim defines a decreasing sequence \[ X(\mathbb{Q}_\ell) \supseteq X(\mathbb{Q}_\ell)_1 \supseteq X(\mathbb{Q}_\ell)_2 \supseteq \cdots \] all containing the rational points of $X$. Thanks to the work of Coleman, the `Chabauty set' $X(\mathbb{Q}_\ell)_1$ is known to be finite provided the Mordell--Weil rank of $J$ is smaller than $g$. In this case one has a practical strategy that often succeeds in computing the set of rational points of $X$. Balakrishnan and D…
We compute rational points on genus $3$ odd degree hyperelliptic curves $C$ over $\mathbb{Q}$ that have Jacobians of Mordell-Weil rank $0$. The computation applies the Chabauty-Coleman method to find the zero set of a certain system of $p$-adic integrals, which is known to be finite and include the set of rational points $C(\mathbb{Q})$. We implemented an algorithm in Sage to carry out the Chabauty-Coleman method on a database of $5870$ curves.
We explore a number of problems related to the quadratic Chabauty method for determining integral points on hyperbolic curves. We remove the assumption of semistability in the description of the quadratic Chabauty sets $\mathcal{X}(\mathbb{Z}_p)_2$ containing the integral points $\mathcal{X}(\mathbb{Z})$ of an elliptic curve of rank at most $1$. Motivated by a conjecture of Kim, we then investigate theoretically and computationally the set-theoretic difference $\mathcal{X}(\mathbb{Z}_p)_2\setminus \mathcal{X}(\mathbb{Z})$. We also consider some algorithmic questions arising from Balakrishnan--…
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 …
Faltings' theorem states that curves of genus $g \geq 2$ have finitely many rational points. Using the ideas of Faltings, Mumford, Parshin and Raynaud, one obtains an upper bound on the number of rational points, but this bound is too large to be used in any reasonable sense. In 1985, Coleman showed that Chabauty's method, which works when the Mordell-Weil rank of the Jacobian of the curve is smaller than $g$, can be used to give a good effective bound on the number of rational points of curves of genus $g > 1$. We draw ideas from nonarchimedean geometry to show that we can also give an effect…
We prove a dynamical version of the Mordell-Lang conjecture for subvarieties of the affine space A^g over a p-adic field, endowed with polynomial actions on each coordinate of A^g. We use analytic methods similar to the ones employed by Skolem, Chabauty, and Coleman for studying diophantine equations.
We describe recent work connecting combinatorics and tropical/non-Archimedean geometry to Diophantine geometry, particularly the uniformity conjectures for rational points on curves and for torsion packets of curves. The method of Chabauty--Coleman lies at the heart of this connection, and we emphasize the clarification that tropical geometry affords throughout the theory of $p$-adic integration, especially to the comparison of analytic continuations of $p$-adic integrals and to the analysis of zeros of integrals on domains admitting monodromy.
In this paper, we study bounds for the number of rational points on twists C' of a fixed curve C over a number field K, under the condition that the group of K-rational points on the Jacobian J' of C' has rank smaller than the genus of C'. The main result is that with some explicitly given finitely many possible exceptions, we have a bound of the form 2r + c, where r is the rank of J'(K) and c is a constant depending on C. For the proof, we use a refinement of the method of Chabauty-Coleman; the main new ingredient is to use it for an extension field of K_v, where v is a place of bad reduction…
Let $X= \mathbb{P}^1 \setminus \{0,1,\infty\}$, and let $S$ denote a finite set of prime numbers. In an article of 2005, Minhyong Kim gave a new proof of Siegel's theorem for $X$: the set $X(\mathbb{Z}[S^{-1}])$ of $S$-integral points of $X$ is finite. The proof relies on a `nonabelian' version of the classical Chabauty method. At its heart is a modular interpretation of unipotent $p$-adic Hodge theory, given by a tower of morphisms $h_n$ between certain $\mathbb{Q}_p$-varieties. We set out to obtain a better understanding of $h_2$. Its mysterious piece is a polynomial in $2|S|$ variables. Our…
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 $C$ be a genus $2$ hyperelliptic curve over a number field $K$, with a Weierstrass point $\infty$ at infinity, let $J$ be its Jacobian, let $Θ$ be the theta divisor with respect to $\infty$, and let $p$ be any prime number. We give an explicit construction of a $p$-adic height $h_p\colon J(\overline{\mathbb{Q}})\to \mathbb{Q}_p$ by means of $p$-adic analogues of Néron functions of divisor $2Θ$. We define such Néron functions using division polynomials and a generalisation of Blakestad's $p$-adic sigma function on the formal group of $J$. We prove that our $p$-adic Néron function $λ_v$ at a…
In this paper, we study $λϕ^4$ scalar field theory defined on the unramified extension of p-adic numbers ${\mathbb Q}_{p^n}$. For different ``space-time'' dimensions $n$, we compute one-loop quantum corrections to the effective potential. Surprisingly, despite the unusual properties of non-Archimedean geometry, the Coleman-Weinberg potential of p-adic field theory has a structure very similar to that of its real cousin. We also study two formal limits of the effective potential, $p \rightarrow 1$ and $p \rightarrow \infty$. We show that the $p\rightarrow 1$ limit allows to reconstruct the cano…
Let $p$ be a prime number such that the modular curve $X_0(p)$ has genus at least two. We show that the only points of the reduction mod $p$ of $X_0(p)$ with image in the reduction mod $p$ of $J_0(p)$ in the cuspidal group are the two cusps. This answers a question of Robert Coleman. For the proof we give a description of the special fibre of the Néron model of the jacobian of a semi-stable curve in terms of divisors. We also study to what extent the morphism from a semistable curve with given base point to the Néron model of its jacobian is a closed immmersion. Implicitly, logarithmic structu…
Let $X$ be a curve of genus $g\geq 2$ over a number field $F$ of degree $d = [F:Q]$. The conjectural existence of a uniform bound $N(g,d)$ on the number $\#X(F)$ of $F$-rational points of $X$ is an outstanding open problem in arithmetic geometry, known by [CHM97] to follow from the Bombieri--Lang conjecture. A related conjecture posits the existence of a uniform bound $N_{{\rm tors},\dagger}(g,d)$ on the number of geometric torsion points of the Jacobian $J$ of $X$ which lie on the image of $X$ under an Abel--Jacobi map. For fixed $X$ this quantity was conjectured to be finite by Manin--Mumfor…
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 …
