Lower bounds on the class number of algebraic function fields defined over any finite field (Q1940464)

The authors give a lower bound for the class number of an algebraic function field of genus \(g\), defined over a finite field. Their bounds improves the Lachaud - Martin-Deschamps lower bounds and, asymptotically, it reaches the Tsfasman-Vladut bounds. Their method uses the Hasse-Weil zeta function of a curve over a finite field and bounds of the number of effective divisors of a given degree on the curve. In the last section, the authors give several examples of towers of algebraic function fields over a finite field with large class numbers. For such a towers the authors show that the limit \(\mu_r({\mathcal{F}}/\mathbb F_q)\) is the generalized Drinfeld-Vladut bound of order \(r=2^f\).