Related papers: Weierstrass semigroups on the Skabelund maximal cu…
Using Weil descent, we give bounds for the number of rational points on two families of curves over finite fields with a large abelian group of automorphisms: Artin-Schreier curves of the form $y^q-y=f(x)$ with $f\in\Fqr[x]$, on which the…
This paper is concerned with the construction of extremal elliptic K3 surfaces. It gives a complete treatment of those fibrations which can be derived from rational elliptic surfaces by easy manipulations of their Weierstrass equations. In…
For every $d\geq 2$, we construct a subset $D\subseteq \{1,2,\dots,n\}^d$ of size $n-o(n)$ such that every affine hyperplane of $\mathbb{R}^d$ intersects $D$ in at most $d$ points, and every hypersphere of $\mathbb{R}^n$ intersects $D$ in…
A rational function on a real algebraic curve $C$ is called separating if it takes real values only at real points. Such a function defines a covering $\mathbb R C\to\mathbb{RP}^1$. Let $c_1,\dots,c_r$ be connected components of $\mathbb R…
We give a self-contained introduction to linear algebraic and semialgebraic groups over real closed fields, and we generalize several key results about semisimple Lie groups to algebraic and semialgebraic groups over real closed fields. We…
We show that for all finite fields F_q, there exists a curve C over F_q of genus 3 such that the number of rational points on C is within 3 of the Serre-Weil upper or lower bound. For some q, we also obtain improvements on the upper bound…
We classify the graphs that can occur as the graph of rational preperiodic points of a quadratic polynomial over $\bold Q$, assuming the conjecture that it is impossible to have rational points of period $4$ or higher. In particular, we…
We prove that the rational function semifield of a tropical curve is finitely generated as a semifield over the tropical semifield $\boldsymbol{T} := ( \boldsymbol{R} \cup \{ - \infty \}, \operatorname{max}, +)$ by giving a specific finite…
Let $X$ be an algebraic variety, defined over the rationals. This paper gives upper bounds for the number of rational points on $X$, with height at most $B$, for the case in which $X$ is a curve or a surface. In the latter case one excludes…
In six-dimensional F-theory/heterotic string theory, half-hypermultiplets arise only when they correspond to particular quaternionic K\"ahler symmetric spaces, which are mostly associated with the Freudenthal-Tits magic square. Motivated by…
Let $G$ be a finite group and, for a given complex character $\chi$ of $G$, let ${\mathbb{Q}}(\chi)$ denote the field extension of ${\mathbb{Q}}$ obtained by adjoining all the values $\chi(g)$, for $g\in G$. The group $G$ is called…
We provide new upper bounds on N_q(g), the maximum number of rational points on a smooth absolutely irreducible genus-g curve over F_q, for many values of q and g. Among other results, we find that N_4(7) = 21 and N_8(5) = 29, and we show…
We investigate the genera of quotient curves $\mathcal H_q/G$ of the $\mathbb F_{q^2}$-maximal Hermitian curve $\mathcal H_q$, where $G$ is contained in the maximal subgroup $\mathcal M_q\leq{\rm Aut}(\mathcal H_q)$ fixing a pole-polar pair…
We introduce and begin the topological study of real rational plane curves, all of whose inflection points are real. The existence of such curves is a corollary of results in the real Schubert calculus, and their study has consequences for…
In the 80's D. Eisenbud and J. Harris posed the following question: "What are the limits of Weierstrass points in families of curves degenerating to stable curves not of compact type?" We answer their question for one-dimensional families…
We show that at any standard or Weierstrass point P on a hyperelliptic Riemann surface S equipped with a nonsingular even spin structure, we may attach a spin group G(P) in a natural way. All such spin groups are isomorphic to each other…
We give an explicit description of the F_{q^i}-rational points on the Fermat curve u^{q-1}+v^{q-1}+w^{q-1}=0 for each i=1,2,3. As a consequence, we observe that for any such point (u,v,w), the product uvw is a cube in F_{q^i}. We also…
Quartic spectrahedra in 3-space form a semialgebraic set of dimension 24. This set is stratified by the location of its ten nodes. There are twenty maximal strata, identified recently by Degtyarev and Itenberg, via the global Torelli…
We generalize the work of Dem'janenko and Silverman for the Fermat quartics, effectively determining the rational points on the curves $x^{2m}+ax^m+ay^m+y^{2m}=b$ whenever the ranks of some companion hyperelliptic Jacobians are at most one.…
Let $G$ be a semisimple connected Lie group of non-compact type with finite center. Let $K<G$ be a maximal compact subgroup and $P<G$ be a minimal parabolic subgroup. For any pair $(F,x)$, where $F$ is a maximal flat in $G/K$ and $x \in…