The number A(q) shows the asymptotic behaviour of the quotient of the number of rational points over the genus of non-singular absolutely irreducible curves over a finite field Fq. Research on bounds for A(q) is closely connected with the so-called asymptotic main problem in Coding Theory. In this paper, we study some generalizations of this number for non-irreducible curves, their connection with A(q) and its application in Coding Theory.
We describe a method that allows, under some hypotheses, to compute all the rational points of some genus 5 curves defined over a number field. This method is used to solve some arithmetic problems that remained open.
We give a complete list of rational functions $A$ such that the genus $g$ of the Galois closure of $\mathbb C(z)/\mathbb C(A)$ equals zero. We also provide a geometric description of $A$ for which $g=1.$
For affine plane curves defined over the rationals of genus at least two, we show that a decision algorithm for the existence of solutions also yields a search algorithm for all solutions.
We show that for all finite fields F_q, there exists a curve C over F_q of genus 3 such that the number of rational points on C is within 3 of the Serre-Weil upper or lower bound. For some q, we also obtain improvements on the upper bound for the number of rational points on a genus 3 curve over F_q.
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.
One of the big questions in the area of curves over finite fields concerns the distribution of the numbers of points: Which numbers occur as the number of points on a curve of genus $g$? The same question can be asked of various subclasses of curves. In this article we classify the possibilities for the number of points on genus 4 hyperelliptic supersingular curves over finite fields of order $2^n$, $n$ odd.
The number $N_9(5)$, the maximal number of $\mathbb{F}_9$-rational points on curves over $\mathbb{F}_9$ of genus $5$ is unknown, but it is known that $32 \le N_9(5)\le 35$. In this paper, we enumerate hyperelliptic curves and trigonal curves over $\mathbb{F}_3$ which have many $\mathbb{F}_9$-rational points (and $\mathbb{F}_3$-rational points), especially the maximal number of $\mathbb{F}_9$-rational points of those curves is $30$. Kudo-Harashita studied the nonhyperelliptic and nontrigonal case,where they found a new example of curves (over $\mathbb{F}_3$) of genus five which attains $32$ and…
We show that for any numerical semigroup H of genus g at most 6, the locus of Weierstrass points on curves of genus g with Weierstrass semigroup H is irreducible and that for all but possibly two semigroups it is stably rational.
We study the existence of Khovanskii-finite valuations for rational curves of arithmetic genus two. We provide a semi-explicit description of the locus of degree $n+2$ rational curves in $\mathbb{P}^n$ of arithmetic genus two that admit a Khovanskii-finite valuation. Furthermore, we describe an effective method for determining if a rational curve of arithmetic genus two defined over a number field admits a Khovanskii-finite valuation. This provides a criterion for deciding if such curves admit a toric degeneration. Finally, we show that rational curves with a single unibranched singularity are…
We compute the rational cohomology of the moduli space of trigonal curves of genus 5. We do this by considering their natural embedding in the first Hirzebruch surface and by using Gorinov-Vassiliev's method.
In this paper we look for necessary and sufficient conditions for a genus one fibration to have rational curves. We show that a projective variety with log terminal singularities that admits a relatively minimal genus one fibration $X\rightarrow B$ does contain vertical rational curves if and only if it not isomorphic to a finite étale quotient of a product $\tilde{B}\times E$ over $B$. Many sufficient conditions for the existence of rational curves in a variety that admits a genus one fibration are proved in this paper.
This article is a survey of P. Katsylo's proof that the moduli space of smooth projective complex curves of genus 3 is rational. We hope to make the argument more comprehensible and transparent by emphasizing the underlying geometry in the proof and its key structural features.
The global geometry of the moduli spaces of higher spin curves and their birational classification is largely unknown for g >= 2 and r > 2. Using quite related geometric constructions, we almost complete the picture of the known results in genus g <= 4 showing the rationality of the moduli spaces of even and odd 4-spin curves of genus 3, of odd spin curves of genus 4 and of 3-spin curves of genus 4.
We consider relatively minimal fibrations of curves of genus two on rational surfaces whose Picard numbers are not maximal. By birational morphisms, such fibred surfaces are interpreted as pencils of plane curves. We show that only four are canonical, among a variety of possible models. For each canonical pencil, we give an example with trivial Mordell-Weil group.
Darmon points on p-adic tori and Jacobians of Shimura curves over Q were introduced in previous joint works with Rotger as generalizations of Darmon's Stark-Heegner points. In this article we study the algebraicity over extensions of a real quadratic field K of the projections of Darmon points to elliptic curves. More precisely, we prove that linear combinations of Darmon points on elliptic curves weighted by certain genus characters of K are rational over the predicted genus fields of K. This extends to an arbitrary quaternionic setting the main theorem on the rationality of Stark-Heegner poi…
In many situations, the monodromy group of enumerative problems will be the full symmetric group. In this paper, we study a similar phenomenon on the rational curves in $|\mathcal{O}(1)|$ on a generic K3 surface of fixed genus over $\mathbb{C}$ as the K3 surface varies. We prove that when the K3 surface has genus $g$, $1\leq g\leq 3$, the monodromy group is the full symmetric group.
By the technique of 3-fold Mori theory, we prove that the moduli space whose general point parameterizes a couple of a smooth curve of genus 4 and a halfcanonical divisor with vanishing global section is rational.
We prove that the Poincare' polynomial of the moduli space of smooth genus 4 curves is 1+t^2+t^4+t^5. We show this by producing a stratification of the space, such that all strata are geometric quotients of complements of discriminants.
We show, for each algebraically closed field, the rationality of the following two moduli spaces: M(3,3) parametrizing pairs (C, η) where C has genus 3 and ηis a 3-torsion divisor class, respectively of M(3,<3>) parametrizing pairs (C, <η>) as above and where <η> is the cyclic subgroup of order 3 in Pic_0(C) generated by η.
The aim of the present paper is to prove the rationality of the universal family of polarized $ K3 $ surfaces of degree 14. This is achieved by identifying it with the moduli space of cubic fourfolds plus the data of a quartic scroll. The last moduli space is finally proved to be rational since it has a natural structure of $\mathbb P^n$-bundle over a $ k $-stably rational variety with $k \leq n$.
Let S be a general complex Nikulin surface of genus 8, a geometric construction of S is given as follows. Consider a smooth 3-fold linear section T of the Grassmannian G(1,4) and the Hilbert scheme of rational normal sextic curves of T. In it consider the special family of sextics A which are also contained in the congruence of bisecant lines to a rational normal quartic curve of P^4. We show that S is biregular to a quadratic section of T containing a sextic A. In particular A admits a 1-dimensional family of bisecant lines contained in G(1,4) and 8 of them are in S. This explicit constructio…
We give a combinatorial description of the rational cohomology of the moduli spaces of pointed genus 1 curves with $n$ marked points and level $N$ structures. More precisely, we explicitly describe the $E_2$ term of the Leray spectral sequence of the forgetful mapping $\EuScript{M}_{1,n}(N)\to\EuScript{M}_{1,1}(N)$ and show that the result is isomorphic to the rational cohomology of $\EuScript{M}_{1,n}(N)$ as a rational mixed Hodge structure equipped with an action of the symmetric group $\mathfrak{S}_n$. The classical moduli space $\EuScript{M}_{1,n}$ is the particular case N=1.
We characterize transversality, non-transversality properties on the moduli space of genus 0 stable maps to a rational projective surface. If a target space is equipped with a real structure, i.e, anti-holomorphic involution, then the results have real enumerative applications. Firstly, we can define a real version of Gromov-Witten invariants. Secondly, we can prove the invariance of Welschinger's invariant in algebraic geometric category.
Polarized rational surfaces $(X, \mathcal L)$ of sectional genus two ruled in conics are studied. When they are not minimal, they are described as the blow-up of $\mathbb F_1$ at some points lying on distinct fibers. Ampleness and very ampleness of $\mathcal L$ are studied in terms of their location. When $\mathcal L$ is very ample and there is a line contained in $X$ and transverse to the fibers, the conic fibrations $(X, \mathcal L)$ are classified and a related property concerned with the inflectional locus is discussed.
Given a smooth curve of genus 2 embedded in P^(d-2) with a complete linear system of degree d>=6, we list all types of rational normal scrolls arising from linear systems g^1_2 and g^1_3 on C. Furthermore, we give a description of the ideal of such a curve of genus 2 embedded in P^(d-2) as a sum of the ideal of the two-dimensional scroll defined by the unique g^1_2 on C and the ideal of a three-dimensional scroll arising from a g^1_3 on C and not containing the scroll defined by the g^1_2 on C.
Let $A$ be a simple abelian surface over an algebraically closed field $k$. Let $S\subset A(k)$ be the set of torsion points $x$ of $A$ such that there exists a genus $2$ curve $C$ and a map $f: C\to A$ such that $x$ is in the image of $f$, and $f$ sends a Weierstrass point of $C$ to the origin of $A$. The purpose of this note is to show that if $k$ has characteristic zero, then $S$ is finite -- this is in contrast to the situation where $k$ is the algebraic closure of a finite field, where $S=A(k)$, as shown by Bogomolov and Tschinkel. We deduce that if $k=\bar{\mathbb{Q}}$, the Kummer surfac…
Let $\mathfrak B_g$ denote the moduli space of primitively polarized $K3$ surfaces $(S,H)$ of genus $g$ over $\mathbb C$. It is well-known that $\mathfrak B_g$ is irreducible and that there are only finitely many rational curves in $|H|$ for any primitively polarized $K3$ surface $(S,H)$. So we can ask the question of finding the monodromy group of such curves. The case of $g=2$ essentially follows from the results of Harris \cite{Ha} to be the full symmetric group $S_{324}$, here we solve the case $g=3$ and $4$.
The problem of finding all possible extensions of a given rational diophantine quadruple to a rational diophantine quintuple is equivalent to the determination of the set of rational points on a certain curve of genus 5 that can be written as an intersection of three diagonal quadrics in $\mathbb P^4$. We discuss how one can (try to) determine the set of rational points on such a curve. We apply our approach to the original question in several cases. In particular, we show that Fermat's diophantine quadruple (1,3,8,120) can be extended to a rational diophantine quintuple in only one way, namel…
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…
A singular curve over a non-perfect field K may not have a smooth model over K. Those are said to "change genus". If K is a global field of positive characteristic and C/K a curve that change genus, then C(K) is known to be finite. The purpose of this note is to give examples of curves with fixed relative genus, defined over K for which #C(K) is arbitrarily large. The motivation for considering this problem comes from the work of Caporaso et al. [CHM], where they show that a conjecture of Lang implies that, for a number field K, #C(K) can be bounded in terms of g and K only for all curves C/K …
In this paper we complete the classification of the elliptic fibrations on K3 surfaces which admit a non-symplectic involution acting trivially on the Néron--Severi group. We use the geometric method introduced by Oguiso and moreover we provide a geometric construction of the fibrations classified. If the non-symplectic involution fixes at least one curve of genus 1, we relate all the elliptic fibrations on the K3 surface with either elliptic fibrations or generalized conic bundles on rational elliptic surfaces. This description allows us to write the Weierstrass equations of the elliptic fibr…
We use the BGG-correspondence to show that there are at most three possible Hilbert functions for smooth rational surfaces of degree 11 and sectional genus 11. Surfaces with one of these Hilbert functions have been classified by Popescu. The classification for a second one is done in this paper. For the third Hilbert function the classification is still open.
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, …
In this paper we classify curves of genus two over a perfect field k of characteristic two. We find rational models of curves with a given arithmetic structure for the ramification divisor and we give necessary and sufficient conditions for two models of the same type to be k-isomorphic. As a consequence, we obtain an explicit formula for the number of k-isomorphism classes of curves of genus two over a finite field. Moreover, we prove that the field of moduli of any curve coincides with its field of definition, by exhibiting rational models of curves with any prescribed value of their Igusa i…
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 ov…
We show that there exist genus one curves of every index over the rational numbers, answering affirmatively a question of Lang and Tate. The proof is "elementary" in the sense that it does not assume the finiteness of any Shafarevich-Tate group. On the other hand, using Kolyvagin's construction of a rational elliptic curve whose Mordell-Weil and Shafarevich-Tate groups are both trivial, we show that there are infinitely many curves of every index over every number field.
We build a database of genus 2 curves defined over $\mathbb Q$ which contains all curves with minimal absolute height $h \leq 5$, all curves with moduli height $\mathfrak h \leq 20$, and all curves with extra automorphisms in standard form $y^2=f(x^2)$ defined over $\mathbb Q$ with height $h \leq 101$. For each isomorphism class in the database, an equation over its minimal field of definition is provided, the automorphism group of the curve, Clebsch and Igusa invariants. The distribution of rational points in the moduli space $\mathcal M_2$ for which the field of moduli is a field of definiti…
Let $M_{g, n}$ (respectively, $\overline{M_{g, n}}$) be the moduli space of smooth (respectively stable) curves of genus $g$ with $n$ marked points. Over the field of complex numbers, it is a classical problem in algebraic geometry to determine whether or not $M_{g, n}$ (or equivalently, $\overline{M_{g, n}}$) is a rational variety. Theorems of J. Harris, D. Mumford, D. Eisenbud and G. Farkas assert that $M_{g, n}$ is not unirational for any $n \geqslant 0$ if $g \geqslant 22$. Moreover, P. Belorousski and A. Logan showed that $M_{g, n}$ is unirational for only finitely many pairs $(g, n)$ wit…
In this paper we study the geometry of the Severi varieties parametrizing curves on the rational ruled surface $\fn$. We compute the number of such curves through the appropriate number of fixed general points on $\fn$, and the number of such curves which are irreducible. These numbers are known as Severi degrees; they are the degrees of unions of components of the Hilbert scheme. As (i) $\fn$ can be deformed to $\eff_{n+2}$, (ii) the Gromov-Witten invariants are deformation-invariant, and (iii) the Gromov-Witten invariants of $\eff_0$ and $\eff_1$ are enumerative, Theorem \ref{irecursion} com…
Refereed version to appear in Michigan Mathematical Journal. A mistake in the last section of the previous version has been corrected. The new title exactly describes the main result obtained. Building on the geometry of cubic surfaces and on a theorem of Dolgachev, the rationality of the moduli space R mentioned in the title is proved. Let M be the moduli space of 6 points in the plane, modulo the natural involution induced by double-six configurations on cubic surfaces. It is proved that R is birational to a tower of locally trivial projective bundles ending onto M. The rationality of R then…
We produce new explicit examples of genus-2 curves over the rational numbers whose Jacobian varieties have rational torsion points of large order. In particular, we produce a family of genus-2 curves over Q whose Jacobians have a rational point of order 48, parametrized by a rank-2 elliptic curve over Q, and we exhibit a single genus-2 curve over Q whose Jacobian has a rational point of order 70, the largest order known. We also give new examples of genus-2 Jacobians with rational points of order 27, 28, and 39. Most of our examples are produced by `gluing' two elliptic curves together along t…
We give a construction of singular curves with many rational points over finite fields. This construction enables us to prove some results on the maximum number of rational points on an absolutely irreducible projective algebraic curve defined over Fq of geometric genus g and arithmetic genus $π$.
We resolve a 1983 question of Serre by constructing curves with many points of every genus over every finite field. More precisely, we show that for every prime power q there is a positive constant c_q with the following property: for every non-negative integer g, there is a genus-g curve over F_q with at least c_q * g rational points over F_q. Moreover, we show that there exists a positive constant d such that for every q we can choose c_q = d * (log q). We show also that there is a constant c > 0 such that for every q and every n > 0, and for every sufficiently large g, there is a genus-g cu…
Let $E$ be an ordinary elliptic curve over a finite field and $g$ be a positive integer. Under some technical assumptions, we give an algorithm to span the isomorphism classes of principally polarized abelian varieties in the isogeny class of $E^g$. The varieties are first described as hermitian lattices over (not necessarily maximal) quadratic orders and then geometrically in terms of their algebraic theta null point. We also show how to algebraically compute Siegel modular forms of even weight given as polynomials in the theta constants by a careful choice of an affine lift of the theta null…
We prove that, when genus two curves $C/\mathbb{Q}$ with a marked Weierstass point are ordered by height, the average number of rational points $\#|C(\mathbb{Q})|$ is bounded. The argument follows the same ideas as the sphere-packing proof of boundedness of the average number of integral points on (quasiminimal Weierstrass models of) elliptic curves. That is, we bound the number of small-height points by hand, the number of medium-height points by establishing an explicit Mumford gap principle and using the theorem of Kabatiansky-Levenshtein on spherical codes (this technique goes back to work…
Currently, the best upper bounds on the number of rational points on an absolutely irreducible, smooth, projective algebraic curve of genus g defined over a finite field F_q come either from Serre's refinement of the Weil bound if the genus is small compared to q, or from Oesterle's optimization of the explicit formulae method if the genus is large. This paper presents three methods for improving these bounds. The arguments used are the indecomposability of the theta divisor of a curve, Galois descent, and Honda-Tate theory. Examples of improvements on the bounds include lowering them for a wi…
We discuss birational properties of Mukai varieties, i.e., of higher-dimensional analogues of prime Fano threefolds of genus $g \in \{7,8,9,10\}$ over an arbitrary field $\mathsf{k}$ of zero characteristic. In the case of dimension $n \ge 4$ we prove that these varieties are $\mathsf{k}$-rational if and only if they have a $\mathsf{k}$-point except for the case of genus $9$, where we assume $n \ge 5$. Furthermore, we prove that Mukai varieties of genus $g \in \{7,8,9,10\}$ and dimension $n \ge 5$ contain cylinders if they have a $\mathsf{k}$-point. Finally, we prove that the embedding $X \hook…
We present a table containing the maximal number of rational points on a genus 3 curve over a field of cardinality q, for all q<100. Also, some remarks on Frobenius non-classical quartics over finite fields are given.
We compute the rational cohomology ring of \bar R_2, the (compactified) moduli space of Prym curves of genus 2. We also recompute the rational cohomology ring of \bar S_2, the moduli space of spin curves of genus 2, thereby correcting some errors made in an article by G. Bini and C. Fontanari, containing a computation of the same ring.
We consider a rational surface with a relatively minimal fibration. Picard number of a such fibred surface is bounded in terms of the genus of a general fibre. When Picard number is the maximum for any given genus, we characterize a such fibred surface whose Mordell-Weil group is trivial by singular fibres. Furthermore, we describe the defining equation explicitly.
