Algebraic curves with many points over the binary field (Q2370148)

For any prime power \(q\) and any integer \(g>0\) denote by \(N_q(g)\) the maximum number of rational points of a curve of genus \(g\) defined over \(\mathbb{F}_q\), and let \(A(q):=\limsup_{g\to\infty}N_q(g)/g\). If \(q\) is a square, results of Ihara and Tsfasman-Vladut show that \(A(q)=\sqrt{q}-1\), but it is not known the exact value of \(A(q)\) for any nonsquare \(q\). In the paper under review, the authors show that \(A(2)\geq 97/376\), improving the best known lower bound for \(A(2)\). The result is based on a result of Serre that provides a lower bound for \(A(q)\) from the construction of a global function field \(F\) with sufficiently large \(\ell\)-rank of \(\text{Cl}(O_S)\), where \(\ell\) is a prime number, \(S\) is the complementary set of a finite set of places of \(F\) and \(O_S\) is the \(S\)-integral ring. The function field \(F\) is constructed as a composite field, of genus \(377\), of two subfields of cyclotomic function fields, with a sufficiently large number of ramified places.