On Weierstrass gaps at several points (Q2423487)

Let \(\mathcal{X}\) be a nonsingular projective geometrically irreducible algebraic curve of positive genus defined over a finite field. For a divisor \(D\) on \(\mathcal{X}\), let \(\ell(D)\) denote the dimension of its Riemann--Roch space. Given a tuple \(\mathbf{Q} = (Q_1,\ldots, Q_m)\) of distinct rational points on \(\mathcal{X}\) the Weierstrass semigroup at \(\mathbf{Q}\), denoted \(H(\mathbf{Q})\), consists of tuples of integers \((k_1,\ldots, k_m)\) such that \(\sum_i k_i Q_i\) is the pole divisor of a function on \(\mathcal{X}\). This is a subsemigroup of \(\mathbb{N}_0^m\). The set of gaps of \(\mathcal{X}\) at \(\mathbf{Q}\) is \(G(\mathbf{Q}) = \mathbb{N}_0^m \setminus H(\mathbf{Q})\). A pure gap is an \(m\)-tuple \(\alpha \in G(\mathbf{Q})\) such that the divisor \(D_{\alpha} = \alpha_1 Q_1 + \cdots + \alpha_m Q_m\) satisfies \(\ell(D_{\alpha}) = \ell(D_{\alpha} - Q_j)\) for \(j = 1,\ldots, m\). The authors use a notion of maximality due to \textit{F. Delgado} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 108, No. 3, 627--631 (1990; Zbl 0707.14029)], to build on work of \textit{M. Homma} and \textit{S. J. Kim} [J. Pure Appl. Algebra 162, No. 2--3, 273--290 (2001; Zbl 0991.94055)] for \(m=2\), and give a characterization of gaps and pure gaps for larger \(m\). They give examples of their results for some affine curves of the form \(f(y) = g(x)\) where \(f\) and \(g\) are polynomials in \(\mathbb{F}_q[T]\) with relatively prime degrees.