In this paper we develop techniques for computing the relative Brauer group of curves, focusing particularly on the case where the genus is 1. We use these techniques to show that the relative Brauer group may be infinite (for certain ground fields) as well as to determine this group explicitly for certain curves defined over the rational numbers. To connect to previous descriptions of relative Brauer groups in the literature, we describe a family of genus 1 curves, which we call "cyclic type" for which the relative Brauer group can be shown to have a particularly nice description. In order to do this, we discuss a number of formulations of the pairing between the points on an elliptic curve and its Weil-Chatêlet group into the Brauer group of the ground field, and draw connections to the period-index problem for genus 1 curves.
Let D be a finite-dimensional central division algebra over a field K. We define the genus gen(D) of D to be the collection of classes in the Brauer group of K represented by central division K-algebras D' having the same maximal subfields as D. In this paper, we describe a general approach to proving the finiteness of gen(D) and estimating its size that involves the unramified Brauer group with respect to an appropriate set of discrete valuations of K.
We determine the isomorphism class of the Brauer groups of certain nonrational genus zero extensions of number fields. In particular, for all genus zero extensions E of the rational numbers Q that are split by Q(\sqrt{2}), Br(E) is isomorphic to Br(Q(t)).
Let K be a field. Let A be a central simple algebra over K and let X be the associated Brauer-Severi variety over K. It has recently been asked if there exists a genus 1 curve C over K such that K(C) splits A. In other words, is there a genus one curve C over K with a morphism to X? In this short note, we explicitly construct such a curve in the case where X has dimension at most 4 (equivalently, when A has degree at most 5).
We prove new results on splitting Brauer classes by genus 1 curves, settling in particular the case of degree 7 classes over global fields. Though our method is cohomological in nature, and proceeds by considering the more difficult problem of splitting $μ_N$-gerbes, we use crucial input from the arithmetic of modular curves and explicit $N$-descent on elliptic curves.
Let X be a proper smooth and connected surface over a finite field. We proved in [LLR2] that the order of the Brauer group Br(X) of X is a perfect square if it is finite. Our proof is based in part on a result of Gordon [Gor], which we used in [LLR1] to establish a key formula. Thomas Geisser noted that the formula in [LLR1] is incorrect, due to an omission in [Gor], and provides a corrected formula. We explain in this corrigendum how to modify the work of Gordon to establish a correct formula. The corrected formula can be used to prove the result in [LLR2] without further modifications.
Let $\mathbb{F}$ be a finite field and $C,D$ smooth, geometrically irreducible proper curves over $\mathbb{F}$ and set $K = \mathbb{F}(D)$. We consider Brauer-Manin and abelian descent obstructions to the existence of rational points and to weak approximation for the curve $C \otimes_\mathbb{F} K$. In particular, we show that Brauer-Manin is the only obstruction to weak approximation and the Hasse principle in the case that the genus of $D$ is less than that of $C$. We also show that we can identify the points corresponding to non-constant maps $D \to C$ using Frobenius descents.
We prove that if q is a power of an odd prime then there is no genus-2 curve over F_q whose Jacobian has characteristic polynomial of Frobenius equal to x^4 + (2-2q)x^2 + q^2. Our proof uses the Brauer relations in a biquadratic extension of Q to show that every principally polarized abelian surface over F_q with the given characteristic polynomial splits over F_{q^2} as a product of polarized elliptic curves.
We prove the existence of noncrossed product and indecomposable division algebras over the function field of a smooth p-adic curve, especially when the curve does not admit a smooth model over Z_p. Thus we generalize arXiv 0907.0670. To make our constructions, we investigate the lifting of cohomology classes from the total fraction ring of the closed fiber to the function field of the curve, over an arbitrary discrete valuation ring of mixed characteristic.
We introduce the relative units-Picard complex of an arbitrary morphism of schemes and apply it to the problem of describing the (cohomological) Brauer group of a (fiber) product of schemes in terms of the Brauer groups of the factors. Under certain hypotheses, we obtain a five-term exact sequence involving the preceding groups which enables us to solve the indicated problem in the case of, e.g., (certain types of) ruled varieties over a field of characteristic zero.
We conjecture that if C is a curve of genus >1 over a number field k such that C(k) is empty, then a method of Scharaschkin (equivalent to the Brauer-Manin obstruction in the context of curves) supplies a proof that C(k) is empty. As evidence, we prove a corresponding statement in which C(F_v) is replaced by a random subset of the same size in J(F_v) for each residue field F_v at a place v of good reduction for C, and the orders of Jacobians over finite fields are assumed to be smooth (in the sense of having only small prime divisors) as often as random integers of the same size. If our conjec…
Haile, Han and Kuo have studied certain non-commutative algebras associated to a binary quartic or ternary cubic form. We extend their construction to pairs of quadratic forms in four variables, and conjecture a further generalisation to genus one curves of arbitrary degree. These constructions give an explicit realisation of an isomorphism relating the Weil-Chatelet and Brauer groups of an elliptic curve.
We consider the problem of computing the relative Brauer group of a torsor of period 2 under an elliptic curve E. We show how this problem can be reduced to finding a set of generators for the group of rational points on E. This extends work of Haile and Han to the case of torsors with unequal period and index. Several numerical examples are given.
In $2000$, Colliot-Thélène and Poonen showed how to construct algebraic families of genus one curves violating the Hasse principle. Poonen explicitly constructed an algebraic family of genus one cubic curves violating the Hasse principle using the general method developed by Colliot-Thélène and himself. The main result in this paper generalizes the result of Colliot-Thélène and Poonen to arbitrarily high genus hyperelliptic curves. More precisely, for $n > 5$ and $n \not\equiv 0 \pmod{4}$, we show that there is an algebraic family of hyperelliptic curves of genus $n$ that is counterexamples to…
We prove an analogue of the Brauer-Siegel theorem for Fermat surfaces over a finite field. Namely, letting $F_d$ be the Fermat surface of degree $d$ over $\mathbb{F}_q$ and $p_g(F_d)$ be its geometric genus, we consider the product of the order of the Brauer group $\mathrm{Br}(F_d)$ of $F_d$ times the absolute value of a Gram determinant of the Néron-Severi group of $F_d$ with respect to the intersection form (the regulator $\mathrm{Reg}(F_d)$ of $F_d$). We show that this product grows like $q^{p_g(F_d)}$ when $d$ tends to infinity: $$ \log\left( |\mathrm{Br}(F_d)|\cdot \mathrm{Reg}(F_d)\right…
Given a curve of genus 3 with an unramified double cover, we give an explicit description of the associated Prym-variety. We also describe how an unramified double cover of a non-hyperelliptic genus 3 curve can be mapped into the Jacobian of a curve of genus 2 over its field of definition and how this can be used to do Chabauty- and Brauer-Manin type calculations for curves of genus 5 with an unramified involution. As an application, we determine the rational points on a smooth plane quartic with no particular geometric properties and give examples of curves of genus 3 and 5 violating the Hass…
By a hyperelliptic curve over Q, we mean a smooth, geometrically irreducible, complete curve C over Q equipped with a fixed map of degree 2 to P^1 defined over Q. Thus any hyperelliptic curve C over Q of genus g can be embedded in weighted projective space P(1,1,g+1) via an equation of the form C : z^2 = f(x,y) = f_0 x^n + f_1 x^{n-1} y + ... + f_n y^n where n=2g+2, the coefficients f_i lie in Z, and f factors into distinct linear factors over Q-bar. Define the height H(C) of C by H(C):=max{|f_i|}, and order all hyperelliptic curves over Q of genus g by height. Then we prove that, as g tends t…
Let $k$ be a perfect field and let $p$ be a prime number different from the characteristic of $k$. Let $C$ be a smooth, projective and geometrically integral $k$-curve and let $X$ be a Severi-Brauer $C$-scheme of relative dimension $p-1$ . In this paper we show that $CH^{d}(X)_{\rm{tors}}$ contains a subgroup isomorphic to $CH_{0}(X/C)$ for every $d$ in the range $2\leq d\leq p$. We deduce that, if $k$ is a number field, then $CH^{d}(X)$ is finitely generated for every $d$ in the indicated range.
For a curve over a global field we consider for which integers d the d-primary part of the Brauer group can obstruct the existence of rational points. We give examples showing it is possible that there is a d-primary obstruction for infinitely many relatively coprime d, and also an example where the odd part of the Brauer group does not obstruct although there is a Brauer-Manin obstruction. These examples demonstrate that a slightly stronger form of a conjecture of Poonen is false, despite being supported by the same heuristic.
We reinterpret Kim's non-abelian reciprocity maps for algebraic varieties as obstruction towers of mapping spaces of etale homotopy types, removing technical hypotheses such as global basepoints and cohomological constraints. We then extend the theory by considering alternative natural series of extensions, one of which gives an obstruction tower whose first stage is the Brauer--Manin obstruction, allowing us to determine when Kim's maps recover the Brauer-Manin locus. A tower based on relative completions yields non-trivial reciprocity maps even for Shimura varieties; for the stacky modular c…
In this paper we present a new method to show that a principal homogeneous space of the Jacobian of a curve of genus two is nontrivial. The idea is to exhibit a Brauer-Manin obstruction to the existence of rational points on a quotient of this principal homogeneous space. In an explicit example we apply the method to show that a specific curve has infinitely many quadratic twists whose Jacobians have nontrivial Tate-Shafarevich group.
In this project, we will study the Brauer group that was first defined by R. Brauer. The elements of the Brauer group are the equivalence classes of finite dimensional central simple algebra. Therefore understanding the structure of the Brauer group of a field is equivalent to a complete classification of finite dimensional central division algebras over the field. One of the important achievements of algebra and number theory in the last century is the determination of Br(Q), the Brauer group of rational numbers. The aim of this dissertation is to review this project, i.e., determining Br(Q).…
Let k be a number field and X a smooth projective k-variety. In this paper, we study the information obtainable from descent via torsors under finite k-group schemes on the location of the k-rational points on X within the adelic points. Our main result is that if a curve C/k maps nontrivially into an abelian variety A/k such that A(k) is finite and Sha(k,A) has no nontrivial divisible elements, then the information coming from finite abelian descent cuts out precisely the rational points of C. We conjecture that this is the case for all curves of genus at least 2. We relate finite descent obs…
We suspect that the ``genus part'' of the class number of a number field K may be an obstruction for an ``easy proof'' of the classical p-rank epsilon-conjecture for p-class groups and, a fortiori, for a proof of the ``strong epsilon-conjecture'': \# (Cl\_K \otimes \Z\_p) <<\_(d,p,epsilon) ($\sqrt$D\_K)^epsilon for all K of degree d. We analyze the weight of genus theory in this inequality by means of an infinite family of degree p cyclic fields with many ramified primes, then we prove the p-rank epsilon-conjecture: \# (Cl\_K \otimes \F\_p) <<\_(d,p,epsilon) ($\sqrt$D\_K)^epsilon, for d=p and …
Given a global field K and a positive integer n, there exists an abelian extension L/K (of exponent n) such that the local degree of L/K is equal to n at every finite prime of K, and is equal to two at the real primes if n=2. As a consequence, the n-torsion subgroup of the Brauer group of K is equal to the relative Brauer group of L/K.
The Frey--Mazur conjecture states that an elliptic curve over $\mathbb{Q}$ is determined up to isogeny by its $p$-torsion Galois representation for $p\geq 17$. We study a geometric analog of this conjecture, and show that the map from isogeny classes of "fake elliptic curves"---abelian surfaces with quaternionic multiplication---to their $p$-torsion Galois representations is one-to-one over function fields of small genus complex curves for sufficiently large $p$ relative to the genus.
Fix a prime number ell. In this paper we develop the theory of relative pro-ell completion of discrete and profinite groups -- a natural generalization of the classical notion of pro-ell completion -- and show that the pro-ell completion of the Torelli group does not inject into the relative pro-ell completion of the corresponding mapping class group when the genus is at least 3. As an application, we prove that when g > 2, the action of the pro-ell completion of the Torelli group T_{g,1} on the pro-ell fundamental group of a pointed genus g surface is not faithful. The choice of a first-order…
This paper refers to Langlands' big set of notes [L] devoted to the question if the (normalized) local Hecke-Tate root number $Δ=Δ(E,χ)$, where $E$ is a finite separable extension of a fixed non-archimedean local field $F$, and $χ$ a quasicharacter of $E^\times$, can be appropriately extended to a local $\varepsilon$-factor $\varepsilon_Δ=\varepsilon_Δ(E,ρ)$ for all virtual representations $ρ$ of the corresponding Weil group $W_E.$ Whereas Deligne [D] has given a relatively short proof by using the global Artin-Weil L-functions, the proof of Langlands is purely local and splits into two parts:…
We establish a $\mathbb{Z}[[t_1,\ldots, t_n]]$-linear derived equivalence between the relative Fukaya category of the 2-torus with $n$ distinct marked points and the derived category of perfect complexes on the $n$-Tate curve. Specialising to $t_1= \ldots =t_n=0$ gives a $\mathbb{Z}$-linear derived equivalence between the Fukaya category of the $n$-punctured torus and the derived category of perfect complexes on the standard (Néron) $n$-gon. We prove that this equivalence extends to a $\mathbb{Z}$-linear derived equivalence between the wrapped Fukaya category of the $n$-punctured torus and the…
