Decomposing Jacobians of curves over finite fields in the absence of algebraic structure (Q2352027)

Let \(Z_C(t)= {L_C(t)\over (1-t)(1-qt)}\) be the zeta-function of a smooth projective curve \(C\) defined over a finite field \(\mathbb{F}_q\) of \(q\) elements, then \(L_C(t)\in\mathbb{Z}[t]\). The authors discuss several results and conjectures, relating to the properties of the polynomial \(L_C(t)\). Their main result is as follows. Let \(A\) and \(B\) be two smooth projective curves defined over \(\mathbb{F}_q\). If there is a positive integer \(k\) such that \[ \text{card\,} A(\mathbb{F}_{q^m})= \text{card\,} B(\mathbb{F}_{q^m}) \] for every integer \(m\) not divisible by \(k\) and the \(k\)th powers of the roots of \(L_A(t)\) are all distinct, then \(L_B(t)= f(t^k)L_A(t)\) for some polynomial \(f(t)\) in \(\mathbb{Z}[t]\). Conversely, if \(L_B(t)= f(t^k)L_A(t)\) for some polynomial \(f(t)\) in \(\mathbb{Z}[t]\) and an integer \(k\geq 2\), then \[ \text{card\,} A(\mathbb{F}_{q^m})= \text{card\,} B(\mathbb{F}_{q^m}) \] for every integer \(m\) not divisible by \(k\).