arXiv subjects

Rachel Pries

Publications and source records attributed to Rachel Pries.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Realizing Artin-Schreier covers of curves with minimal Newton polygons in positive characteristic

Suppose $X$ is a smooth projective connected curve defined over an algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic $p>0$ and $B \subset X(k)$ is a finite, possibly empty, set of points. The Newton polygon of a degree $p$ Galois cover of $X$ with branch locus $B$ depends on the ramification invariants of the cover. When $X$ is ordinary, for every possible set of branch points and ramification invariants, we prove that there exists such a cover whose Newton polygon is minimal or close to minimal.

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arXiv2020

Cohomology groups of Fermat curves via ray class fields of cyclotomic fields

The absolute Galois group of the cyclotomic field $K={\mathbb Q}(ζ_p)$ acts on the étale homology of the Fermat curve $X$ of exponent $p$. We study a Galois cohomology group which is valuable for measuring an obstruction for $K$-rational points on $X$. We analyze a $2$-nilpotent extension of $K$ which contains the information needed for measuring this obstruction. We determine a large subquotient of this Galois cohomology group which arises from Heisenberg extensions of $K$. For $p=3$, we perform a Magma computation with ray class fields, group cohomology, and Galois cohomology, which determines it completely.

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arXiv2019

Newton polygon stratification of the Torelli locus in PEL-type Shimura varieties

We study the intersection of the Torelli locus with the Newton polygon stratification of the modulo $p$ reduction of certain PEL-type Shimura varieties. We develop a clutching method to show that the intersection of the open Torelli locus with some Newton polygon strata is non-empty. This allows us to give a positive answer, under some compatibility conditions, to a question of Oort about smooth curves in characteristic $p$ whose Newton polygons are an amalgamate sum. As an application, we produce infinitely many new examples of Newton polygons that occur for smooth curves that are cyclic covers of the projective line. Most of these arise in inductive systems which demonstrate unlikely intersections of the open Torelli locus with the Newton polygon stratification in Siegel modular varieties. In addition, for the twenty special PEL-type Shimura varieties found in Moonen's work, we prove that all Newton polygon strata intersect the open Torelli locus (if $p>>0$ in the supersingular cases).

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arXiv2019

The Supersingularity of Hurwitz Curves

We study when Hurwitz curves are supersingular. Specifically, we show that the curve $H_{n,\ell}: X^nY^\ell + Y^nZ^\ell + Z^nX^\ell = 0$, with $n$ and $\ell$ relatively prime, is supersingular over the finite field $\mathbb{F}_{p}$ if and only if there exists an integer $i$ such that $p^i \equiv -1 \bmod (n^2 - n\ell + \ell^2)$. If this holds, we prove that it is also true that the curve is maximal over $\mathbb{F}_{p^{2i}}$. Further, we provide a complete table of supersingular Hurwitz curves of genus less than 5 for characteristic less than 37.

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arXiv2018

Newton Polygons Arising for Special Families of Cyclic Covers of the Projective Line

By a result of Moonen, there are exactly 20 positive-dimensional families of cyclic covers of the projective line for which the Torelli image is open and dense in the associated Shimura variety. For each of these, we compute the Newton polygons, and the $μ$-ordinary Ekedahl--Oort type, occurring in the characteristic $p$ reduction of the Shimura variety. We prove that all but a few of the Newton polygons appear on the open Torelli locus. As an application, we produce multiple new examples of Newton polygons and Ekedahl--Oort types of Jacobians of smooth curves in characteristic $p$. Under certain congruence conditions on $p$, these include: the supersingular Newton polygon for genus $5,6,7$; fourteen new non-supersingular Newton polygons for genus $5-7$; eleven new Ekedahl--Oort types for genus $4-7$ and, for all $g \geq 6$, the Newton polygon with $p$-rank $g-6$ with slopes $1/6$ and $5/6$.

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arXiv2018

Newton polygons of cyclic covers of the projective line branched at three points

We review the Shimura-Taniyama method for computing the Newton polygon of an abelian variety with complex multiplication. We apply this method to cyclic covers of the projective line branched at three points. As an application, we produce multiple new examples of Newton polygons that occur for Jacobians of smooth curves in characteristic $p$. Under certain congruence conditions on $p$, these include: the supersingular Newton polygon for each genus $g$ with $4 \leq g \leq 11$; nine non-supersingular Newton polygons with $p$-rank $0$ with $4 \leq g \leq 11$; and, for all $g \geq 5$, the Newton polygon with $p$-rank $g-5$ having slopes $1/5$ and $4/5$.

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arXiv2018

Current results on Newton polygons of curves

There are open questions about which Newton polygons and Ekedahl-Oort types occur for Jacobians of smooth curves of genus $g$ in positive characteristic $p$. In this chapter, I survey the current state of knowledge about these questions. I include a new result, joint with Karemaker, which verifies, for each odd prime $p$, that there exist supersingular curves of genus $g$ defined over $\overline{\mathbb F}_p$ for infinitely many new values of $g$. I sketch a proof of Faber and Van der Geer's theorem about the geometry of the $p$-rank stratification of the moduli space of curves. The chapter ends with a new theorem, in which I prove that questions about the geometry of the Newton polygon and Ekedahl-Oort strata can be reduced to the case of $p$-rank $0$.

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arXiv2018

The de Rham cohomology of the Suzuki curves

For a natural number $m$, let $\mathcal{S}_m/\mathbb{F}_2$ be the $m$th Suzuki curve. We study the mod $2$ Dieudonné module of $\mathcal{S}_m$, which gives the equivalent information as the Ekedahl-Oort type or the structure of the $2$-torsion group scheme of its Jacobian. We accomplish this by studying the de Rham cohomology of $\mathcal{S}_m$. For all $m$, we determine the structure of the de Rham cohomology as a $2$-modular representation of the $m$th Suzuki group and the structure of a submodule of the mod $2$ Dieudonné module. For $m=1$ and $2$, we determine the complete structure of the mod $2$ Dieudonné module.

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arXiv2018

The Galois action and cohomology of a relative homology group of Fermat Curves

For an odd prime $p$ satisfying Vandiver's conjecture, we give explicit formulae for the action of the absolute Galois group $G_{\mathbb{Q}(ζ_p)}$ on the homology of the degree $p$ Fermat curve, building on work of Anderson. Further, we study the invariants and the first Galois cohomology group which are associated with obstructions to rational points on the Fermat curve.

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arXiv2017

Fully maximal and fully minimal abelian varieties

We introduce and study a new way to catagorize supersingular abelian varieties defined over a finite field by classifying them as fully maximal, mixed, or fully minimal. The type of $A$ depends on the normalized Weil numbers of $A$ and its twists. We analyze these types for supersingular abelian varieties and curves under conditions on the automorphism group. In particular, we present a complete analysis of these properties for supersingular elliptic curves and supersingular abelian surfaces in arbitrary characteristic, and for a one-dimensional family of supersingular curves of genus $3$ in characteristic $2$.

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arXiv2017

Non-ordinary curves with a Prym variety of low $p$-rank

If $π: Y \to X$ is an unramified double cover of a smooth curve of genus $g$, then the Prym variety $P_π$ is a principally polarized abelian variety of dimension $g-1$. When $X$ is defined over an algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic $p$, it is not known in general which $p$-ranks can occur for $P_π$ under restrictions on the $p$-rank of $X$. In this paper, when $X$ is a non-hyperelliptic curve of genus $g=3$, we analyze the relationship between the Hasse-Witt matrices of $X$ and $P_π$. As an application, when $p \equiv 5 \bmod 6$, we prove that there exists a curve $X$ of genus $3$ and $p$-rank $f=3$ having an unramified double cover $π:Y \to X$ for which $P_π$ has $p$-rank $0$ (and is thus supersingular); for $3 \leq p \leq 19$, we verify the same for each $0 \leq f \leq 3$. Using theoretical results about $p$-rank stratifications of moduli spaces, we prove, for small $p$ and arbitrary $g \geq 3$, that there exists an unramified double cover $π: Y \to X$ such that both $X$ and $P_π$ have small $p$-rank.

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arXiv2017

Abhyankar's conjectures in Galois theory: Current status and future directions

In this paper, we survey the major contributions of Abhyankar to the development of the theory of fundamental groups and Galois covers in positive characteristic. We first discuss the current status of four conjectures of Abhyankar about Galois covers in positive characteristic. Then we discuss research directions inspired by Abhyankar's work, including many open problems.

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arXiv2017

Explicit arithmetic of Jacobians of generalized Legendre curves over global function fields

We study the Jacobian $J$ of the smooth projective curve $C$ of genus $r-1$ with affine model $y^r = x^{r-1}(x + 1)(x + t)$ over the function field $\mathbb{F}_p(t)$, when $p$ is prime and $r\ge 2$ is an integer prime to $p$. When $q$ is a power of $p$ and $d$ is a positive integer, we compute the $L$-function of $J$ over $\mathbb{F}_q(t^{1/d})$ and show that the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture holds for $J$ over $\mathbb{F}_q(t^{1/d})$. When $d$ is divisible by $r$ and of the form $p^ν+1$, and $K_d := \mathbb{F}_p(μ_d,t^{1/d})$, we write down explicit points in $J(K_d)$, show that they generate a subgroup $V$ of rank $(r-1)(d-2)$ whose index in $J(K_d)$ is finite and a power of $p$, and show that the order of the Tate-Shafarevich group of $J$ over $K_d$ is $[J(K_d):V]^2$. When $r>2$, we prove that the "new" part of $J$ is isogenous over $\overline{\mathbb{F}_p(t)}$ to the square of a simple abelian variety of dimension $ϕ(r)/2$ with endomorphism algebra $\mathbb{Z}[μ_r]^+$. For a prime $\ell$ with $\ell \nmid pr$, we prove that $J[\ell](L)=\{0\}$ for any abelian extension $L$ of $\overline{\mathbb{F}}_p(t)$.

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arXiv2017

Ordinary and almost ordinary Prym varieties

We study the $p$-rank stratification of the moduli space of Prym varieties in characteristic $p > 0$. For arbitrary primes $p$ and $\ell$ with $\ell \not = p$ and integers $g \geq 3$ and $0 \leq f \leq g$, the first theorem generalizes a result of Nakajima by proving that the Prym varieties of all the unramified ${\mathbb Z}/\ell$-covers of a generic curve $X$ of genus $g$ and $p$-rank $f$ are ordinary. Furthermore, when $p \geq 5$ and $\ell = 2$, the second theorem implies that there exists a curve of genus $g$ and $p$-rank $f$ having an unramified double cover whose Prym has $p$-rank $f'$ for each $\frac{g}{2}-1 \leq f' \leq g-2$; (these Pryms are not ordinary). Using work of Raynaud, we use these two theorems to prove results about the (non)-intersection of the $\ell$-torsion group scheme with the theta divisor of the Jacobian of a generic curve $X$ of genus $g$ and $p$-rank $f$.

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arXiv2017

Reduction of dynatomic curves

The dynatomic modular curves parametrize polynomial maps together with a point of period $n$. It is known that the dynatomic curves $Y_1(n)$ are smooth and irreducible in characteristic 0 for families of polynomial maps of the form $f_c(z) = z^m +c$ where $m\geq 2$. In the present paper, we build on the work of Morton to partially characterize the primes $p$ for which the reduction modulo $p$ of $Y_1(n)$ remains smooth and/or irreducible. As an application, we give new examples of good reduction of $Y_1(n)$ for several primes dividing the ramification discriminant when $n=7,8,11$. The proofs involve arithmetic and complex dynamics, reduction theory for curves, ramification theory, and the combinatorics of the Mandelbrot set.

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arXiv2015

Superspecial rank of supersingular abelian varieties and Jacobians

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 information about the decomposition of a supersingular abelian variety up to isomorphism; namely it is a bound for the maximal number of supersingular elliptic curves appearing in such a decomposition.

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arXiv2015

Galois action on the homology of Fermat curves

In his paper titled "Torsion points on Fermat Jacobians, roots of circular units and relative singular homology", Anderson determines the homology of the degree $n$ Fermat curve as a Galois module for the action of the absolute Galois group $G_{\mathbb{Q}(ζ_n)}$. In particular, when $n$ is an odd prime $p$, he shows that the action of $G_{\mathbb{Q}(ζ_p)}$ on a more powerful relative homology group factors through the Galois group of the splitting field of the polynomial $1-(1-x^p)^p$. If $p$ satisfies Vandiver's conjecture, we prove that the Galois group of this splitting field over $\mathbb{Q}(ζ_p)$ is an elementary abelian $p$-group of rank $(p+1)/2$. Using an explicit basis for this Galois group, we completely compute the relative homology, the homology, and the homology of an open subset of the degree $3$ Fermat curve as Galois modules. We then compute several Galois cohomology groups which arise in connection with obstructions to rational points.

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arXiv2015

Arithmetic of abelian varieties in Artin-Schreier extensions

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 groups of these Jacobians in terms of the geometry of their fibers of bad reduction and homomorphisms between Jacobians of auxiliary Artin-Schreier curves. We illustrate these theorems by computing the rank for explicit examples of Jacobians of arbitrary dimension $g$, exhibiting Jacobians with bounded rank and others with unbounded rank in the tower of Artin-Schreier extensions. Finally, we compute the Mordell-Weil lattices of an isotrivial elliptic curve and a family of non-isotrivial elliptic curves. The latter exhibits an exotic phenomenon whereby the angles between lattice vectors are related to point counts on elliptic curves over finite fields. Our methods also yield new results about supersingular factors of Jacobians of Artin-Schreier curves.

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