arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Andreas-Stephan Elsenhans.
We report on our project to find explicit examples of $K3$ surfaces having real or complex multiplication. Our strategy is to search through the arithmetic consequences of RM and CM. In order to do this, an efficient method is needed for point counting on surfaces defined over finite fields. For this, we describe algorithms that are $p$-adic in nature.
Let $X$ be a smooth proper variety of even dimension $d$ over a finite field. We establish a restriction on the value at $(-1)$ of the characteristic polynomial of the Frobenius on the middle-dimensional étale cohomology of $X$ with coefficients in ${\mathbb Q}_l(d/2)$.
We construct explicit examples of $K3$ surfaces over ${\mathbb Q}$ having real multiplication. Our examples are of geometric Picard rank 16. The standard method for the computation of the Picard rank provably fails for the surfaces constructed.
We construct new examples of cubic surfaces, for which the Hasse principle fails. Thereby, we show that, over every number field, the counterexamples to the Hasse principle are Zariski dense in the moduli scheme of non-singular cubic surfaces.
We study the moduli space $\widetilde{\calM}$ of marked cubic surfaces. By classical work of A.\,B. Coble, this has a compactification $\widetilde{M}$, which is linearly acted upon by the group $W(E_6)$. $\widetilde{M}$ is given as the intersection of 30 cubics in $\bP^9$. For the morphism $\widetilde{calM} \to \bP(1,2,3,4,5)$ forgetting the marking, followed by Clebsch's invariant map, we give explicit formulas. I.e., Clebsch's invariants are expressed in terms of Coble's irrational invariants. As an application, we give an affirmative answer to the inverse Galois problem for cubic surfaces over $\bbQ$.
For an arbitrary del Pezzo surface S, we compute alpha(S), which is the volume of a certain polytope in the dual of the effective cone of S, using Magma and Polymake. The constant alpha(S) appears in Peyre's conjecture for the leading term in the asymptotic formula for the number of rational points of bounded height on S over number fields.
We report on our experiments and theoretical investigations concerning weak approximation and the transcendental Brauer-Manin obstruction for special Kummer surfaces.
We describe a method to compute the Brauer-Manin obstruction for smooth cubic surfaces over $\bbQ$ such that $\Br(S)/\Br(\bbQ)$ is a 3-group. Our approach is to associate a Brauer class with every ordered triplet of Galois invariant pairs of Steiner trihedra. We show that all order three Brauer classes may be obtained in this way. To show the effect of the obstruction, we give explicit examples.
We test R. van Luijk's method for computing the Picard group of a $K3$ surface. The examples considered are the resolutions of Kummer quartics in $\bP^3$. Using the theory of abelian varieties, in this case, the Picard group may be computed directly. Our experiments show that the upper bounds provided by R. van Luijk's method are sharp when sufficiently many primes are used. In fact, there are a lot of primes that yield a value close to the exact one. However, for many but not all Kummer surfaces $V$ of Picard rank 18, we have $\smash{\rk\Pic(V_{\bar\bbF_{p}}) \geq 20}$ for a set of primes of density $\geq 1/2$.
We report on our project to construct non-singular cubic surfaces over $\bbQ$ with a rational line. Our method is to start with degree 4 Del Pezzo surfaces in diagonal form. For these, we develop an explicit version of Galois descent.
We construct nontrivial homomorphisms from the quasi group of some cubic surfaces over $\bbF_{\!p}$ into a group. We show experimentally that the homomorphisms constructed are the only possible ones and that there are no nontrivial homomorphisms in the other cases. Thereby, we follow the classification of cubic surfaces, due to A. Cayley.
We describe a method to compute the Brauer-Manin obstruction for smooth cubic surfaces over $\bbQ$ such that $\Br(S)/\Br(\bbQ)$ is of order two or four. This covers the vast majority of the cases when this group is non-zero. Our approach is to associate a Brauer class with every Galois invariant double-six. We show that all order two Brauer classes may be obtained in this way. We also recover Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer's result that $\Br(S)/\Br(\bbQ)$ may take only five values.
We test the methods for computing the Picard group of a $K3$ surface in a situation of high rank. The examples chosen are resolutions of quartics in $\bP^3$ having 14 singularities of type $A_1$. Our computations show that the method of R. van Luijk works well when sufficiently large primes are used.
We present a method to compute the geometric Picard rank of a $K3$ surface over $\bbQ$. Contrary to a widely held belief, we show it is possible to verify Picard rank $1$ using reduction only at a single prime. Our method is based on deformation theory for invertible sheaves.
We construct examples of $K3$ surfaces of geometric Picard rank $1$. Our method is a refinement of that of R. van Luijk. It is based on an analysis of the Galois module structure on étale cohomology. This allows to abandon the original limitation to cases of Picard rank $2$ after reduction modulo $p$. Furthermore, the use of Galois data enables us to construct examples which require significantly less computation time.
We present a method to construct non-singular cubic surfaces over $\bbQ$ with a Galois invariant pair of Steiner trihedra. We start with cubic surfaces in a form generalizing that of A. Cayley and G. Salmon. For these, we develop an explicit version of Galois descent.
The quadruple $(1\,484\,801, 1\,203\,120, 1\,169\,407, 1\,157\,520)$ already known is essentially the only non-trivial solution of the Diophantine equation $x^4 + 2 y^4 = z^4 + 4 w^4$ for $|x|$, $|y|$, $|z|$, and $|w|$ up to one hundred million. We describe the algorithm we used in order to establish this result, thereby explaining a number of improvements to our original approach.
We show that for primes $p < 10^{14}$ the period length $κ(p^2)$ of the Fibonacci sequence modulo $p^2$ is never equal to its period length modulo $p$. The investigation involves an extensive search by computer. As an application, we establish the general formula $κ(p^n) = κ(p) \cdot p^{n-1}$ for all primes less than $10^{14}$.