arXiv subjects

Shiva Chidambaram

Publications and source records attributed to Shiva Chidambaram.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Point counts of abelian varieties over finite fields determining their zeta function

Let $A$ be an abelian variety of dimension $g$ over a finite field $\mathbf{F}_q$. We show that if $q$ is sufficiently large relative to $g$, the $g$ point counts $\#A(\mathbf{F}_{q^i})$ for $1 \leq i \leq g$ determine the zeta function of $A$, equivalently the characteristic polynomial of its Frobenius endomorphism, and hence the isogeny class of $A$. This count is best possible for $g=2$ and $g=4$, but not in general: for $g=3$ two point counts already determine the zeta function, whereas a single count never does. The proof combines the functional equation of the $L$-polynomial with Newton's identities and an inductive error analysis that controls the power sums of the inverse Frobenius eigenvalues with enough precision to recover them, as integers, by rounding.

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arXiv2026

On the Visibility category of the Shafarevich--Tate group

Given an elliptic curve $E$ over $\Q$ and a nontrivial element $σ$ of its Shafarevich--Tate group $\Sha(E)$, we introduce the \textbf{Visualization category} $\V(E; σ)$ of abelian varieties that ``visualize'' $σ$ in the sense of Mazur, and we study minimal objects in this category. In particular, we show that there can be several minimal visualizing abelian varieties of different dimensions, answering a question of Mazur. We revisit two constructions of visualizing abelian varieties: restriction of scalars (as in the work of Agashe and Stein), and a construction due to de Jong (as in the work of Cremona and Mazur). We show that restriction of scalars typically produces minimal visualizations. When $σ$ has order $2$ or $3$, we build upon the de Jong construction and make it totally explicit. While the de Jong construction can produce non-minimal objects, an appropriate choice in the construction for order $2$ elements $σ$ yields an explicit genus $2$ curve whose Jacobian is a minimal visualization. For order $3$ elements we apply our algorithmic construction to Fisher's database of such elements, and obtain computational evidence that, in the absence of a $3$-isogeny, the de Jong construction yields a minimal visualization.

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arXiv2025

Computing the mod-3 Galois image of a principally polarized abelian surface over the rationals

A lot of work has gone into computing images of Galois representations coming from elliptic curves. This article presents an algorithm to determine the image of the mod-$3$ Galois representation associated to a principally polarized abelian surface over $\mathbb{Q}$. Conjugacy class distribution of subgroups of $\mathrm{GSp}(4,\mathbb{F}_3)$ is a key ingredient. While this ingredient is feasible to compute for $\mathrm{GSp}(4,\mathbb{F}_{\ell})$ for any small prime $\ell$, distinguishing Gassmann-equivalent subgroups is a delicate problem. We accomplish it for $\ell = 3$ using several techniques. The algorithm does not require the knowledge of endomorphisms.

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arXiv2023

Fekete polynomials of principal Dirichlet characters

Fekete polynomials associated to quadratic Dirichlet characters have interesting arithmetic properties, and have been studied in many works. In this paper, we study a seemingly simpler yet rich variant: the Fekete polynomial $F_n(x) = \sum_{a=1}^n χ_n(a) x^a$ associated to a principal Dirichlet character $χ_n$ of modulus $n$. We investigate the cyclotomic factors of $F_n$ and conjecturally describe all of them. One interesting observation from our computations is that the non-cyclotomic part $f_n$ of $F_n(x)/x$ seems to be always irreducible. We study this factor closely in the special case that $n$ is a product of two odd primes, proving separability in specific cases, and studying its coefficients and special values. Combining these theoretical results with computational evidence lets us identify the Galois group of $f_n$ for small $n$, and raises precise questions in general.

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arXiv2023

Mod-$p$ Galois representations not arising from abelian varieties

It is known that any Galois representation $ρ: G_{\mathbb{Q}} \rightarrow \mathrm{GL}(2,\mathbb{F}_p)$ with determinant equal to the mod-$p$ cyclotomic character, arises from the $p$-torsion of an elliptic curve over $\mathbb{Q}$, if and only if $p \leq 5$. In dimension $g = 2$, when $p \le 3$, it is again known that any Galois representation valued in $\mathrm{GSp}(4,\mathbb{F}_p)$ with cyclotomic similitude character arises from an abelian surface. In this paper, we study this question for all primes $p$ and dimensions $g \ge 2$. When $g \ge 2$ and $(g,p) \neq (2,2)$, $(2,3)$, $(3,2)$, we prove the existence of a Galois representation over $\mathbb{Q}$ valued in $\mathrm{GSp}(2g,\mathbb{F}_p)$ with cyclotomic similitude character, that cannot arise as the $p$-torsion representation of any $g$-dimensional abelian variety over $\mathbb{Q}$.

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arXiv2023

Computing isogeny classes of typical principally polarized abelian surfaces over the rationals

We describe an efficient algorithm which, given a principally polarized (p.p.) abelian surface $A$ over $\mathbb{Q}$ with geometric endomorphism ring equal to $\mathbb{Z}$, computes all the other p.p. abelian surfaces over $\mathbb{Q}$ that are isogenous to $A$. This algorithm relies on explicit open image techniques for Galois representations, and we employ a combination of analytic and algebraic methods to efficiently prove or disprove the existence of isogenies. We illustrate the practicality of our algorithm by applying it to 1 440 894 isogeny classes of Jacobians of genus 2 curves.

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arXiv2022

Rational points on hyperelliptic Atkin-Lehner quotients of modular curves and their coverings

We complete the computation of all $\mathbb{Q}$-rational points on all the $64$ maximal Atkin-Lehner quotients $X_0(N)^*$ such that the quotient is hyperelliptic. To achieve this, we use a combination of various methods, namely the classical Chabauty--Coleman, elliptic curve Chabauty, quadratic Chabauty, and the bielliptic quadratic Chabauty method combined with the Mordell-Weil sieve. Additionally, for square-free levels $N$, we classify all $\mathbb{Q}$-rational points as cusps, CM points (including their CM field and $j$-invariants) and exceptional ones. We further indicate how to use this to compute the $\mathbb{Q}$-rational points on all of their modular coverings.

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arXiv2021

Rationality of twists of the Siegel modular variety of genus $2$ and level $3$

Let $\overlineρ: G_{\mathbf{Q}} \rightarrow {\rm GSp}_4(\mathbf{F}_3)$ be a continuous Galois representation with cyclotomic similitude character -- or, what turns out to be equivalent, the Galois representation associated to the $3$-torsion of a principally polarized abelian surface $A/\mathbf{Q}$. We prove that the moduli space $\mathcal{A}_2(\overlineρ)$ of principally polarized abelian surfaces $B/\mathbf{Q}$ admitting a symplectic isomorphism $B[3] \simeq \overlineρ$ of Galois representations is never rational over $\mathbf{Q}$ when $\overlineρ$ is surjective, even though it is both rational over $\mathbf{C}$ and unirational over $\mathbf{Q}$ via a map of degree $6$.

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arXiv2021

Quadratic Chabauty for Atkin-Lehner Quotients of Modular Curves of Prime Level and Genus 4, 5, 6

We use the method of quadratic Chabauty on the quotients $X_0^+(N)$ of modular curves $X_0(N)$ by their Fricke involutions to provably compute all the rational points of these curves for prime levels $N$ of genus four, five, and six. We find that the only such curves with exceptional rational points are of levels $137$ and $311$. In particular there are no exceptional rational points on those curves of genus five and six. More precisely, we determine the rational points on the curves $X_0^+(N)$ for $N=137,173,199,251,311,157,181,227,263,163,197,211,223,269,271,359$.

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arXiv2020

Abelian surfaces with fixed $3$-torsion

Given a genus two curve $X: y^2 = x^5 + a x^3 + b x^2 + c x + d$, we give an explicit parametrization of all other such curves $Y$ with a specified symplectic isomorphism on three-torsion of Jacobians $\mbox{Jac}(X)[3] \cong \mbox{Jac}(Y)[3]$. It is known that under certain conditions modularity of $X$ implies modularity of infinitely many of the $Y$, and we explain how our formulas render this transfer of modularity explicit. Our method centers on the invariant theory of the complex reflection group $C_3 \times \operatorname{Sp}_4(\mathbf{F}_3)$. We discuss other examples where complex reflection groups are related to moduli spaces of curves, and in particular motivate our main computation with an exposition of the simpler case of the group $\operatorname{Sp}_2(\mathbf{F}_3) = \mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbf{F}_3)$ and $3$-torsion on elliptic curves.

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arXiv2019

Some modular abelian surfaces

We use the main theorem of Boxer-Calegari-Gee-Pilloni (arXiv:1812.09269) to give explicit examples of modular abelian surfaces $A$ over $\mathbf{Q}$ without extra endomorhpisms such that $A$ has good reduction outside the primes 2, 3, 5, and 7.

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