We introduce an algorithm to compute the rational torsion subgroup of the Jacobian of a hyperelliptic curve of genus 3 over the rationals. We apply a Magma implementation of our algorithm to a database of curves with low discriminant due to Sutherland as well as a list of curves with small coefficients. In the process, we find several torsion structures not previously described in the literature. The algorithm is a generalisation of an algorithm for genus 2 due to Stoll, which we extend to abelian varieties satisfying certain conditions. The idea is to compute p-adic torsion lifts of points over finite fields using the Kummer variety and to check whether they are rational using heights. Both have been made explicit for Jacobians of hyperelliptic curves of genus 3 by Stoll. This article is partially based on the second-named author's Master thesis.
We analyze complex multiplication for Jacobians of curves of genus 3, as well as the resulting Shimura class groups and their subgroups corresponding to Galois conjugation over the reflex field. We combine our results with numerical methods to find CM fields $K$ for which there exist both hyperelliptic and non-hyperelliptic curves whose Jacobian has complex multiplication by $\mathbb{Z}_K$. More precisely, we find all sextic CM fields $K$ in the LMFDB for which (heuristically) Jacobians of both types with CM by $\mathbb{Z}_K$ exist. There turn out to be 14 such fields among the 547,156 sextic …
Let $p$ be an odd prime number and be an integer coprime to $p$. We survey an algorithm for computing explicit rational representations of $(\ell,...,\ell)$-isogenies between Jacobians of hyperelliptic curves of arbitrary genus over an extension $K$ of the field of $p$-adic numbers $\mathbb{Q}\_p$. The algorithm has a quasi-linear complexity in $\ell$ as well as in the genus of the curves.
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.
Given a principally polarized abelian variety $A$ of dimension $g$ over an algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic $p$, the $p$ torsion $A[p]$ is a finite flat $p$-torsion group scheme of rank $p^{2g}$. There are exactly $2^g$ possible group schemes that can occur as some such $A[p]$. In this paper, we study which group schemes can occur as $J[p]$, where $J$ is the Jacobian of a hyperelliptic curve defined over $\mathbb{F}_p$. We do this by computing explicit formulae for the action of Frobenius and its dual on the de Rham cohomology of a hyperelliptic curve with respect to a given ba…
In this article, we show that in each of four standard families of hyperelliptic curves, there is a density-$1$ subset of members with the property that their Jacobians have adelic Galois representation with image as large as possible. This result constitutes an explicit application of a general theorem on arbitrary rational families of abelian varieties to the case of families of Jacobians of hyperelliptic curves. Furthermore, we provide explicit examples of hyperelliptic curves of genus $2$ and $3$ over $\mathbb Q$ whose Jacobians have such maximal adelic Galois representations.
We study how Tamagawa numbers of Jacobians of hyperelliptic curves vary as one varies the base field or the curve, in the case of semistable reduction. We find that there are strong constraints on the behaviour that appears, some of which are unexpected and specific to hyperelliptic curves. Our methods are explicit and allow one to write down formulae for Tamagawa numbers of infinite families of hyperelliptic curves, of the kind used in proofs of the parity conjecture for Jacobians of curves of small genus.
It is well-known that abelian varieties are projective, and so that there exist explicit polynomial and rational functions which define both the variety and its group law. It is however difficult to find any explicit polynomial and rational functions describing these varieties or their group laws in dimensions greater than two. One exception can be found in Mumford's classic "Lectures on Theta", where he describes how to obtain an explicit model for hyperelliptic Jacobians as the union of several affine pieces described as the vanishing locus of explicit polynomial equations. In this article, …
Let $K$ be a field of characteristic different from $2$, $\bar{K}$ its algebraic closure. Let $n \ge 3$ be an odd integer. Let $f(x)$ and $h(x)$ be degree $n$ polynomials with coefficients in $K$ and without repeated roots. Let us consider genus $(n-1)/2$ hyperelliptic curves $C_f: y^2=f(x)$ and $C_h: y^2=h(x)$, and their jacobians $J(C_f)$ and $J(C_h)$, which are $(n-1)/2$-dimensional abelian varieties defined over $K$. Suppose that one of the polynomials is irreducible and the other splits completely over $K$. We prove that if $J(C_f)$ and $J(C_h)$ are isogenous over $\bar{K}$ then there is …
In this paper, we study the algebraic rank and the analytic rank of the Jacobian of hyperelliptic curves $y^2 = x^5 + m^2$ for integers $m$. Namely, we first provide a condition on $m$ that gives a bound of the size of Selmer group and then we provide a condition on $m$ that makes $L$-functions non-vanishing. As a consequence, we construct a Jacobian that satisfies the rank part of the Birch--Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture.
We consider the problem of efficient computation in the Jacobian of a hyperelliptic curve of genus 3 defined over a field whose characteristic is not 2. For curves with a rational Weierstrass point, fast explicit formulas are well known and widely available. Here we address the general case, in which we do not assume the existence of a rational Weierstrass point, using a balanced divisor approach.
In his previous papers (Math. Res. Letters 7 (2000), 123--13; Progress in Math. 195 (2001), 473--490; Math. Res. Letters 8 (2001), 429--435; Moscow Math. J. 2 (2002), issue 2, 403-431; Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 131 (2003), no. 1, 95--102) the author introduced certain explicit constructions of hyperelliptic jacobians without nontrivial endomorphisms. In the present paper we discuss when these jacobians are mutually non-isogenous. In addition, a special case ($n=m=3$) of our Theorem 1.2 provides the following criterion for elliptic curves $C_f: y^2=f(x)$ and $C_h: y^2=h(x)$ to be non-isogenous. (H…
A representation of a finite group $G$ on a finite dimensional vector space $V$ is called \textbf{unisingular} if every $g\in G$ has 1 as an eigenvalue in its action on $V$. In this paper we show that certain unisingular representations can be realized as mod 2 representations of hyperelliptic Jacobians over $\Q$. We additionally identify new unisingular representations of the symmetric and alternating groups.
Inspired by experimental data, this paper investigates which isogeny classes of abelian varieties defined over a finite field of odd characteristic contain the Jacobian of a hyperelliptic curve. We provide a necessary condition by demonstrating that the Weil polynomial of a hyperelliptic Jacobian must have a particular form modulo 2. For fixed ${g\geq1}$, the proportion of isogeny classes of $g$ dimensional abelian varieties defined over $\mathbb{F}_q$ which fail this condition is $1 - Q(2g + 2)/2^g$ as $q\to\infty$ ranges over odd prime powers, where $Q(n)$ denotes the number of partitions of…
Let $K$ be an algebraically closed field of characteristic different from 2, $g$ a positive integer, $f(x)$ a degree $(2g+1)$ polynomial with coefficients in $K$ and without multiple roots, $C:y^2=f(x)$ the corresponding genus $g$ hyperelliptic curve over K, and $J$ the jacobian of $C$. We identify $C$ with the image of its canonical embedding into $J$ (the infinite point of $C$ goes to the identity element of $J$). It is well known that for each $\mathfrak{b} \in J(K)$ there are exactly $2^{2g}$ elements $\mathfrak{a} \in J(K)$ such that $2\mathfrak{a}=\mathfrak{b}$. M. Stoll constructed an a…
In this article we extend work of Shanks and Washington on cyclic extensions, and elliptic curves associated to the simplest cubic fields. In particular, we give families of examples of hyperelliptic curves $C: y^2=f(x)$ defined over $\mathbb{Q}$, with $f(x)$ of degree $p$, where $p$ is a Sophie Germain prime, such that the rank of the Mordell--Weil group of the jacobian $J/\mathbb{Q}$ of $C$ is bounded by the genus of $C$ and the $2$-rank of the class group of the (cyclic) field defined by $f(x)$, and exhibit examples where this bound is sharp.
Let $K$ be a field of characteristic different from $2$, $\bar{K}$ its algebraic closure. Let $n \ge 3$ be an odd prime such that $2$ is a primitive root modulo $n$. Let $f(x)$ and $h(x)$ be degree $n$ polynomials with coefficients in $K$ and without repeated roots. Let us consider genus $(n-1)/2$ hyperelliptic curves $C_f: y^2=f(x)$ and $C_h: y^2=h(x)$, and their jacobians $J(C_f)$ and $J(C_h)$, which are $(n-1)/2$-dimensional abelian varieties defined over $K$. Suppose that one of the polynomials is irreducible and the other reducible. We prove that if $J(C_f)$ and $J(C_h)$ are isogenous ove…
We give a structure theorem for the $m$-torsion of the Jacobian of a general superelliptic curve $y^m=F(x)$. We study existence of torsion on curves of the form $y^q=x^p-x+a$ over finite fields of characteristic $p$. We apply those results to bound from below the Mordell-Weil ranks of Jacobians of certain superelliptic curves over $\mathbb Q$.
