English

Pointless curves of genus three and four

Number Theory 2010-01-23 v1 Algebraic Geometry

Abstract

A curve over a field k is pointless if it has no k-rational points. We show that there exist pointless genus-3 hyperelliptic curves over a finite field F_q if and only if q < 26, that there exist pointless smooth plane quartics over F_q if and only if either q < 24 or q = 29 or q = 32, and that there exist pointless genus-4 curves over F_q if and only if q < 50.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.math/0403178,
  title  = {Pointless curves of genus three and four},
  author = {Everett W. Howe and Kristin E. Lauter and Jaap Top},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/0403178},
  year   = {2010}
}

Comments

LaTeX, 15 pages

R2 v1 2026-07-22T17:03:18.054Z