On nilpotent automorphism groups of function fields (Q2075162)

\textit{R. Zomorrodian} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 288, 241--255 (1985; Zbl 0565.20029)] proved that a nilpotent subgroup \(G\) of the automorphism group of an algebraic curve defined over the complex numbers has size at most \(16(g-1)\), where \(g\) is the genus of the curve. He also proved that if the equality holds, then \(g-1\) is a power of \(2\). Conversely, if \(g-1\) is a power of \(2\), then there exists an algebraic curve of genus \(g\) that admits an automorphism group of order \(16(g -1)\) which is a nilpotent 2-group. In this paper, the authors partially extend these results to the positive characteristic case (Theorem 1.1). They also provide examples of infinite families of algebraic curves defined over a field of positive characteristic with a nilpotent group of automorphisms attaining the bound \(16(g-1)\) (Section 4). Their approach uses function field theory, and it is completely different from the original approach of Zomorrodian, based on the method of Fuchsian groups.