We study the set of isomorphism classes of principal polarizations on abelian varieties of GL2-type. As applications of our results, we construct examples of curves C, C'/\Q of genus two which are nonisomorphic over \bar \Q and share isomorphic unpolarized modular Jacobian varieties over \Q ; we also show a method to obtain genus two curves over \Q whose Jacobian varieties are isomorphic to Weil's restriction of quadratic \Q-curves, and present examples.
We prove that for any two integers $g\geq 4$ and $g'\leq 2g-1$, there exist abelian varieties over $\overline{\mathbb{Q}}$ which are not quotients of a Jacobian of dimension $g'$. Our method in fact proves that most Abelian varieties satisfy this property, when counting by height relative to a fixed finite map to projective space.
We exhibit the isogeny classes of supersingular abelian threefolds over F_{2^n} containing the Jacobian of a genus 3 curve. In particular, we prove that for even n>6 there always exist a maximal and a minimal curve over F_{2^n}. All the curves can be obtained explicitly.
Our goal in this note is to give a number of examples of abelian varieties over function fields k(t) which have bounded ranks in towers of extensions such as k(t^{1/d}) for varying d. Along the way we prove some new results on Fermat curves which may be of independent interest.
Let $C$ be a smooth projective curve defined over a number field $k$, $X/k(C)$ a smooth projective curve of positive genus, $J_X$ the Jacobian variety of $X$ and $(τ,B)$ the $k(C)/k$-trace of $J_X$. We estimate how the rank of $J_X(k(C))/τB(k)$ varies when we take an unramified abelian cover $π:C'\to C$ defined over $k$.
We prove the existence of an Abelian variety $A$ of dimension $g$ over $\Qa$ which is not isogenous to any Jacobian, subject to the necessary condition $g>3$. Recently, C.Chai and F.Oort gave such a proof assuming the André-Oort conjecture. We modify their proof by constructing a special sequence of CM points for which we can avoid any unproven hypotheses. We make use of various techniques from the recent work of Klingler-Yafaev et al.
We give a complete answer to the question of which polynomials occur as the characteristic polynomials of Frobenius for genus-2 curves over finite fields.
We show that any polarized abelian variety over a finite field is covered by a Jacobian whose dimension is bounded by an explicit constant. We do this by first proving an effective version of Poonen's Bertini theorem over finite fields, which allows us to show the existence of smooth curves arising as hypersurface sections of bounded degree and genus. Additionally, we show that for simple abelian varieties a better bound is possible. As an application of these results we show that if $E$ is an elliptic curve over a finite field then for any $n\in \mathbb{N}$ there exist smooth curves of bounde…
An abelian variety defined over an algebraically closed field k of positive characteristic is supersingular if it is isogenous to a product of supersingular elliptic curves and is superspecial if it is isomorphic to a product of supersingular elliptic curves. In this paper, the superspecial condition is generalized by defining the superspecial rank of an abelian variety, which is an invariant of its p-torsion. The main results in this paper are about the superspecial rank of supersingular abelian varieties and Jacobians of curves. For example, it turns out that the superspecial rank determines…
This is (mostly) a survey article. We use an information about Galois properties of points of small order on an abelian variety in order to describe its endomorphism algebra over an algebraic closure of the ground field. We discuss in detail applications to jacobians of cyclic covers of the projective line.
Let k be a field and f be a Siegel modular form of weight h \geq 0 and genus g>1 over k. Using f, we define an invariant of the k-isomorphism class of a principally polarized abelian variety (A,a)/k of dimension g. Moreover when (A,a) is the Jacobian of a smooth plane curve, we show how to associate to f a classical plane invariant. As straightforward consequences of these constructions, when g=3 and k is a subfield of the complex field, we obtain (i) a new proof of a formula of Klein linking the modular form χ_{18} to the square of the discriminant of plane quartics ; (ii) a proof that one ca…
In this paper we obtain conditions on the divisors of the group order of the Jacobian of a hyperelliptic genus 2 curve, generated by the complex multiplication method described by Weng (2003) and Gaudry (2005). Examples, where these conditions imply that the Jacobian has a large cyclic subgroup, are given.
The {\em abeliant} is a polynomial rule for producing an $n$ by $n$ matrix with entries in a given ring from an $n$ by $n$ by $n+2$ array of elements of that ring. The theory of abeliants, first introduced in an earlier paper of the author, is redeveloped here in a simpler way. Then this theory is exploited to give an explicit elementary construction of the Jacobian of a nonsingular projective algebraic curve defined over an algebraically closed field. The standard of usefulness and aptness we strive toward is that set by Mumford's elementary construction of the Jacobian of a hyperelliptic cur…
Let $p$ be a prime, and $q$ a power of $p$. Using Galois theory, we show that over a field $K$ of characteristic zero, the endomorphism algebras of the jacobians of certain superelliptic curves $y^q=f(x)$ are products of cyclotomic fields.
By the Jacquet-Langlands correspondence and Faltings' isogeny theorem, it is known that the abelian variety J_0^{Dpq}(N) (the Jacobian of a Shimura curve of discriminant Dpq with Gamma_0(N) level structure) is isogenous to the pq-new subvariety of J_0^D(pqN), whenever p and q are distinct primes not dividing D or N. However, this approach is entirely nonconstructive, and gives no information at all about any particular isogeny between the two varieties. In this paper, we determine the kernels of all possible maps from one variety to the other up to support on a small finite set of maximal idea…
We obtain the trace map image of the values of certain harmonic volumes for some quotients of Fermat curves. This provides the algorithm that the algebraic cycles called by the k-th Ceresa cycles are not algebraically equivalent to zero in the Jacobian varieties.
We propose a solution to the hyperelliptic Schottky problem, based on the use of Jacobian Nullwerte and symmetric models for hyperelliptic curves. Both ingredients are interesting on its own, since the first provide period matrices which can be geometrically described, and the second have remarkable arithmetic properties.
We consider the generalized Jacobian $\widetilde{J}_0(N)$ of a modular curve $X_0(N)$ with respect to a reduced divisor given by the sum of all cusps on it. When $N$ is a power of a prime $\geq 5$, we exhibit that the group of rational torsion points $\widetilde{J}_0(N)(\mathbb{Q})_{\mathrm{Tor}}$ tends to be much smaller than the classical Jacobian.
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.
In this paper we study the Coleman-Oort conjecture for superelliptic curves, i.e., curves defined by affine equations $y^n=F(x)$ with $F$ a separable polynomial. We prove that up to isomorphism there are at most finitely many superelliptic curves of fixed genus $g\geq 8$ with CM Jacobians. The proof relies on the geometric structures of Shimura subvarieties in Siegel modular varieties and the stability properties of Higgs bundles associated to fibred surfaces.
These are notes related to a 12-hour course of lectures given at the Centre de Recerca Mathemàtica near Barcelona in February, 2010. The aim of the course was to explain results on curves and their Jacobians over function fields, with emphasis on the group of rational points of the Jacobian, and to explain various constructions of Jacobians with large Mordell-Weil rank. They may be viewed as a continuation of my Park City notes (arXiv:1101.1939). In those notes, the focus was on elliptic curves and finite constant fields, whereas here we discuss curves of higher genera and results over more ge…
We present three families of pairs of geometrically non-isomorphic curves whose Jacobians are isomorphic to one another as unpolarized abelian varieties. Each family is parametrized by an open subset of P^1. The first family consists of pairs of genus-2 curves whose equations are given by simple expressions in the parameter; the curves in this family have reducible Jacobians. The second family also consists of pairs of genus-2 curves, but generically the curves in this family have absolutely simple Jacobians. The third family consists of pairs of genus-3 curves, one member of each pair being a…
We give algorithms for computing with divisors on projective curves over finite fields, and with their Jacobians, using the algorithmic representation of projective curves developed by Khuri-Makdisi. We show that many desirable operations can be done efficiently in this setting: decomposing divisors into prime divisors; computing pull-backs and push-forwards of divisors under finite morphisms, and hence Picard and Albanese maps on Jacobians; generating uniformly random divisors and points on Jacobians; computing Frobenius maps and Kummer maps; and finding a basis for the $l$-torsion of the Pic…
We study the Selmer variety associated to a canonical quotient of the $\Q_p$-pro-unipotent fundamental group of a smooth projective curve of genus at least two defined over $\Q$ whose Jacobian decomposes into a product of abelian varieties with complex multiplication. Elementary multi-variable Iwasawa theory is used to prove dimension bounds, which, in turn, lead to a new proof of Diophantine finiteness over $\Q$ for such curves.
In this note, an analogous statement to the Nagell-Lutz theorem does not hold for the Jacobian of a certain curve of genus 2 over $\mathbb{C}(t)$. As a by-product, we give a (2, 3, 6) quasi-torus decomposition for the dual curve of a smooth cubic.
Looking for a geometric framework to study plectic Heegner points, we define a collection of abelian varieties - called plectic Jacobians - using the middle degree cohomology of quaternionic Shimura varieties (QSVs). The construction is inspired by the definition of Griffiths' intermediate Jacobians and rests on Nekovar-Scholl's notion of plectic Hodge structures. Moreover, we construct exotic Abel-Jacobi maps sending certain zero-cycles on QSVs to plectic Jacobians.
We prove that when all hyperelliptic curves of genus $n\geq 1$ having a rational Weierstrass point are ordered by height, the average size of the 2-Selmer group of their Jacobians is equal to 3. It follows that (the limsup of) the average rank of the Mordell-Weil group of their Jacobians is at most 3/2. The method of Chabauty can then be used to obtain an effective bound on the number of rational points on most of these hyperelliptic curves; for example, we show that a majority of hyperelliptic curves of genus $n\geq 3$ with a rational Weierstrass point have fewer than 20 rational points.
We use methods for computing Picard numbers of reductions of K3 surfaces in order to study the decomposability of Jacobians over number fields and the variance of Mordell-Weil ranks of families of Jacobians over different ground fields. For example, we give examples of surfaces whose Picard numbers jump in rank at all primes of good reduction using Mordell-Weil groups of Jacobians and show that the genus of curves over number fields whose Jacobians are isomorphic to a product of elliptic curves satisfying certain reduction conditions is bounded. The isomorphism result addresses the number fiel…
In this paper we study genus 2 curves whose Jacobians admit a polarized (4,4)-isogeny to a product of elliptic curves. We consider base fields of characteristic different from 2 and 3, which we do not assume to be algebraically closed. We obtain a full classification of all principally polarized abelian surfaces that can arise from gluing two elliptic curves along their 4-torsion and we derive the relation their absolute invariants satisfy. As an intermediate step, we give a general description of Richelot isogenies between Jacobians of genus 2 curves, where previously only Richelot isogenies …
Let $k$ be a field of characteristic zero containing a primitive fifth root of unity. Let $X/k$ be a smooth cubic threefold with an automorphism of order five, then we observe that over a finite extension of the field actually the dihedral group $D_5$ is a subgroup of ${\rm Aut}(X)$. We find that the intermediate Jacobian $J(X)$ of $X$ is isogenous to the product of an elliptic curve $E$ and the self-product of an abelian surface $B$ with real multiplication by $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{5})$. We give explicit models of some algebraic curves related to the construction of $J(X)$ as a Prym variety. This…
We describe a method to determine all the isomorphism classes of principal polarizations of the modular abelian surfaces $A_f$ with quaternionic multiplication attached to a normalized newform $f$ without complex multiplication. We include an example of $A_f$ with quaternionic multiplication for which we find numerically a curve $C$ whose Jacobian is $A_f$ up to numerical approximation, and we prove that it has quaternionic multiplication and is isogenous to $A_f$.
The Ekedahl-Oort type is a combinatorial invariant of a principally polarized abelian variety $A$ defined over an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p > 0$. It characterizes the $p$-torsion group scheme of $A$ up to isomorphism. Equivalently, it characterizes (the mod $p$ reduction of) the Dieudonné module of $A$ or the de Rham cohomology of $A$ as modules under the Frobenius and Vershiebung operators. There are very few results about which Ekedahl-Oort types occur for Jacobians of curves. In this paper, we consider the class of Hermitian curves, indexed by a prime power $q=p^n$, wh…
Mazur proved that any element xi of order three in the Shafarevich-Tate group of an elliptic curve E over a number field k can be made visible in an abelian surface A in the sense that xi lies in the kernel of the natural homomorphism between the cohomology groups H^1(k,E) -> H^1(k,A). However, the abelian surface in Mazur's construction is almost never a jacobian of a genus 2 curve. In this paper we show that any element of order three in the Shafarevich-Tate group of an elliptic curve over a number field can be visualized in the jacobians of a genus 2 curve. Moreover, we describe how to get …
We demonstrate that the 3-power torsion points of the Jacobians of the principal modular curves X(3^n) 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.
In [5], Manjul Bhargava and Benedict Gross considered the family of hyperelliptic curves over $\Q$ having a fixed genus and a marked rational Weierstrass point. They showed that the average size of the 2-Selmer group of the Jacobians of these curves, when ordered by height, is 3. In this paper, we consider the family of hyperelliptic curves over $\Q$ having a fixed genus and a marked rational non-Weierstrass point. We show that when these curves are ordered by height, the average size of the 2-Selmer group of their Jacobians is 6. This yields an upper bound of 5/2 on the average rank of the Mo…
We construct examples of number fields which are not isomorphic but for which their idele class groups are isomorphic. We also construct examples of projective algebraic curves which are not isomorphic but for which their Jacobian varieties are isomorphic. Both are constructed using an example in group theory provided by Leonard Scott of a finite group $G$ and subgroups $H_1$ and $H_2$ which are not conjugate in $G$ but for which the $G$-module ${\mathbb Z}[G/H_1]$ is isomorphic to ${\mathbb Z}[G/H_2]$.
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 $\mathbb Q$.
Consider the jacobian of a hyperelliptic genus two curve defined over a finite field. Under certain restrictions on the endomorphism ring of the jacobian we give an explicit description all non-degenerate, bilinear, anti-symmetric and Galois-invariant pairings on the jacobian. From this description it follows that no such pairing can be computed more efficiently than the Weil pairing. To establish this result, we need an explicit description of the representation of the Frobenius endomorphism on the l-torsion subgroup of the jacobian. This description is given. In particular, we show that if t…
The class-invariant homomorphism allows one to measure the Galois module structure of extensions obtained by dividing points on abelian varieties. In this paper, we consider the case when the abelian variety is the Jacobian of a Fermat curve. We give examples of torsion points whose associated Galois structure is trivial, as well as points of infinite order whose associated Galois structure is non-trivial.
Given a field $k$ of characteristic different from $2$ and an integer $d \geq 3$, let $J$ be the Jacobian of the "generic" hyperelliptic curve given by $y^2 = \prod_{i = 1}^d (x - α_i)$, where the $α_i$'s are transcendental and independent over $k$; it is defined over the transcendental extension $K / k$ generated by the symmetric functions of the $α_i$'s. We investigate certain subfields of the field $K_{\infty}$ obtained by adjoining all points of $2$-power order of $J(\bar{K})$. In particular, we explicitly describe the maximal abelian subextension of $K_{\infty} / K(J[2])$ and show that it…
The main result of [FG20] classifies the 92 geometric endomorphism algebras of geometrically split abelian surfaces defined over Q. We show that 54 of them arise as geometric endomorphism algebras of Jacobians of genus 2 curves defined over Q, and that the remaining 38 do not. In particular, we exhibit 38 examples of Qbar-isogeny classes of abelian surfaces defined over Q that do not contain any Jacobian of a genus 2 curve defined over Q, and for each of the 54 algebras that do arise we exhibit a curve realizing them.
We study abelian varieties defined over function fields of curves in positive characteristic $p$, focusing on their arithmetic within the system of Artin-Schreier extensions. First, we prove that the $L$-function of such an abelian variety vanishes to high order at the center point of its functional equation under a parity condition on the conductor. Second, we develop an Artin-Schreier variant of a construction of Berger. This yields a new class of Jacobians over function fields for which the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture holds. Third, we give a formula for the rank of the Mordell-Weil…
The Jacobian group of a graph is a finite abelian group through which we can study the graph in an algebraic way. When the graph is a finite abelian covering of another graph, the Jacobian group is equipped with the action of the Galois group. In this paper, we study the Fitting ideal of the Jacobian group as a module over the group ring. We also study the corresponding question for infinite coverings. Additionally, this paper includes module-theoretic approach to Iwasawa theory for graphs.
In this paper, we describe the construction of superelliptic curves with a rational point of prescribed order on their jacobians. The construction is based on Hensel's Lemma and produces for a given integer $N$ a superelliptic curve of genus linear in $N$ with a rational $N$-division point on the jacobian. The method is illustrated with multiple examples.
We approach the Torelli problem of recostructing a curve from its Jacobian from a computational point of view. Following Dubrovin, we design a machinery to solve this problem effectively, which builds on methods in numerical algebraic geometry. We verify this methods via numerical experiments with curves up to genus 7.
It is shown that the $n$-dimensional Jacobian conjecture over algebraic number fields may be considered as an existence problem of integral points on affine curves. More specially, if the Jacobian conjecture over $\mathbb{C}$ is false, then for some $n\gg 1$ there exists a counterexample $F\in \mathbb{Z}[X]^n$ of the form $F_i(X)=X_i+ (a_{i1}X_1+\dots+a_{in}X_n)^{d_i}$, $a_{ij}\in \Z$, $d_i=2;3 $, $i,j=\overline{1,n},$ such that the affine curve $F_1(X)=F_2(X)=\dots=F_n(X)$ has no non-zero integer points.
We present a method for computing the Mordell-Weil rank of the jacobian of a curve of genus 2 with multiplication by a square root of 2, based on descent via isogenies of degree 2, and apply it to a family of curves.
This is a revised version of ANT-0332: "A support problem for the intermediate Jacobians of l-adic representations", by G. Banaszak, W. Gajda & P. Krason, which was placed on these archives on the 29th of January 2002. Following a suggestion of the referee we have subdivided the paper into two separate parts: "Support problem for the intermediate Jacobians of l-adic representations", and "On Galois representations for abelian varieties with complex and real multiplications". Our results on the image of Galois and the Mumford-Tate conjecture for some RM abelian varieties are contained in the se…
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.
In general, algorithms for computing the Selmer group of the Jacobian of a curve have relied on either homogeneous spaces or functions on the curve. We present a theoretical analysis of algorithms which use functions on the curve, and show how to exploit special properties of curves to generate new Selmer group computation algorithms. The success of such an algorithm will be based on two criteria that we discuss. To illustrate the types of properties which can be exploited, we develop a $(1-ζ_{p})$-Selmer group computation algorithm for the Jacobian of a curve of the form $y^{p}=f(x)$ where $p…
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.
