Bounds of the rank of the Mordell-Weil group of Jacobians of hyperelliptic curves (Q2199682)

Let \(C/\mathbb{Q}\) be a hyperelliptic curve given by a model \(y^2 = f(x)\), with \(f(x) \in \mathbb{Q}[x]\), and let \(J/\mathbb{Q}\) be its Jacobian. The Mordell-Weil theorem states that \(J(\mathbb{Q})\) is a finitely generated abelian group and hence \(J(\mathbb{Q})\) decomposes as a direct sum \(J(\mathbb{Q})_{\text{tors}} \oplus \mathbb{Z}^{R_{J(\mathbb{Q})}}\), where \(J(\mathbb{Q})_{\text{tors}}\) is the subgroup of torsion elements and \(R_{J(\mathbb{Q})}\) is the rank of \(J(\mathbb{Q})\). During the last decades a great amount of research has gone into finding bounds of \(R_{J(\mathbb{Q})}\) in terms of invariants of \(C\). In this article the authors give families of examples of hyperelliptic curves \(C \colon y^2 = f(x)\) defined over \(\mathbb{Q}\), with \(f(x)\) of degree \(p\), where \(p\) is a Sophie Germain prime, such that \(R_{J(\mathbb{Q})}\) is bounded by the genus of \(C\) and the two-rank of the class group of the cyclic field defined by \(f(x)\). They further exhibit examples where the given bound is sharp. This extends work of \textit{D. Shanks} [Math. Comput. 28, 1137--1152 (1974; Zbl 0307.12005)] and \textit{L. C. Washington} [Math. Comput. 48, 371--384 (1987; Zbl 0613.12002)] where a similar bound is given for the rank of certain elliptic curves.