English

Torsion points of small order on cyclic covers of $\mathbb P^1$

Algebraic Geometry 2025-05-14 v3

Abstract

Let d2d\geq 2 be a positive integer, KK an algebraically closed field of characteristic not dividing dd, nd+1n\geq d+1 a positive integer that is prime to dd, f(x)K[x]f(x)\in K[x] a degree nn monic polynomial without multiple roots, Cf,d:yd=f(x)C_{f,d}: y^d=f(x) the corresponding smooth plane affine curve over KK, Cf,d\mathcal{C}_{f,d} a smooth projective model of Cf,dC_{f,d} and J(Cf,d)J(\mathcal{C}_{f,d}) the Jacobian of Cf,d\mathcal{C}_{f,d} . We identify Cf,d\mathcal{C}_{f,d} with the image of its canonical embedding into J(Cf,d)J(\mathcal{C}_{f,d}) (such that the infinite point of Cf,d\mathcal{C}_{f,d} goes to the zero of the group law on J(Cf,d)J(\mathcal{C}_{f,d})). Earlier the second named author proved that if d=2d=2 and n=2g+15n=2g+1 \ge 5 then the genus gg hyperelliptic curve Cf,2\mathcal{C}_{f,2} contains no points of orders lying between 33 and n1=2gn-1=2g. In the present paper we generalize this result to the case of arbitrary dd. Namely, we prove that if PP is a point of order m>1m>1 on Cf,d\mathcal{C}_{f,d}, then either m=dm=d or mnm\geq n. We also describe all curves Cf,d\mathcal{C}_{f,d} having a point of order nn.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2411.03508,
  title  = {Torsion points of small order on cyclic covers of $\mathbb P^1$},
  author = {Boris M. Bekker and Yuri G. Zarhin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2411.03508},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

The paper will appear in the Ramanujan Journal