On the rank of abelian varieties over function fields (Q2575673)

Let \(k\) be a number field. The author's aim is to study the rank of \(A(K')/\tau(B'(k))\), where \(K=k(\mathcal{C})\) and \(K'= k(\mathcal{C}')\) are the function fields on the curves \(\mathcal{C}\) and \(\mathcal{C}'\) such that \(\mathcal{C}' \to \mathcal{C}\) is a finite geometrically abelian cover of a smooth projective irreducible curve \(\mathcal{C}\) of genus \(g\) defined over \(k\), \(A/K\) an abelian variety of dimension \(d\), and \((\tau',B')\) the \(K'/k\) trace of \(A\). Let \(\phi \colon \mathcal{A} \to \mathcal{C}\) be a proper flat morphism defined over \(k\) from a smooth projective irreducible variety \(\mathcal{A}\) defined over \(k\) with generic fibre \(A/K\), \((\tau,B)\) the \(K/k\)-trace of \(A\). By the Lang-Néron theorem \(A(K)/\tau B(k)\) and \(A(\overline{k}(\mathcal{C}))/\tau B(\overline{k})\) are finitely generated abelian groups. Ogg proved that \(2d(2g-2)+f_A+4 \dim(B)\) is an upper bound for the rank of the group \(A(\overline{k}(\mathcal{\mathcal{C}}))/\tau B(\overline{k})\), where \(f_A\) is the degree of the conductor divisor of \(A\) on \(\mathcal{C}\). The author considers a finite cover \(\pi \colon \mathcal{C}' \to \mathcal{C}\) defined over \(k\) which is geometrically abelian with geometric automorphism group \(\mathcal{G}= \mathrm{Aut}\, (\mathcal{C}'/\mathcal{C})\). Set \(\mathcal{A}'=\mathcal{A} \times_\mathcal{C} \mathcal{C}, \; A'=A\times_K K'\). Under the assumptions that Tate's conjecture is true for \(\mathcal{A}'/k\) and certain monodromy representations are irreducible, the author gives an upper bound for the rank of \(A(K')/\tau'B'(k)\) improving Ogg's bound in the case where \(A\) is a Jacobian variety and \(\pi\) is unramified. More precisely, the main result of the paper states that \[ \mathrm{rank} \left( \frac{A(K')}{\tau' B'(k)} \right) \leq \frac{\sharp \mathfrak{O}_{G_k}(\mathcal{G})}{\sharp \mathcal{G}}(d(2d+1)(2g'-2))+ \sharp \mathfrak{O}_{G_k}(\mathcal{G})2df_A, \] where \(\mathfrak{O}_{G_k}(\mathcal{G})\) is the set of \(G_k\)-orbits of \(\mathcal{G}\) with respect to the natural action of absolute Galois group \(G_k\) on \(\mathcal{G}\), and \(g'\) is the genus of \(\mathcal{C}'\). Also the author examines how varies the rank of \(A(K')/\tau' B'(k)\) in towers of function fields over \(K\).