The Tate conjecture for \(K3\) surfaces in odd characteristic (Q493111)

This paper establishes the Tate conjecture for \(K3\) surfaces over finitely generated fields of odd characteristic. The main result of this paper is formulated in the following theorem. Theorem 1. Let \(X\) be a \(K3\) surface defined over a finitely generated field \(k\) of characteristic not equal to \(2\). Then the Tate conjecture holds for \(X\). That is, for any prime \(\ell\) invertible in \(k\), the \(\ell\)-adic Chern class map \[ \text{{ch}}\,:\,\text{Pic}(X)\otimes {\mathbb Q}_{\ell}\to H^2_{\text{ét}}(X_{k^{\text{sep}}, {\mathbb Q}_{\ell}(1)})^{\Gamma} \] is an isomorphism. Here \(k^{\text{sep}}\) is a separable closure of \(k\) and \(\Gamma=\text{{Gal}}(k^{\text{sep}}/k)\) is the associated absolute Galois group. The result of Lieblich--Maulik--Snowden [\textit{M. Lieblich} et al., Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 47, No. 2, 285--308 (2014; Zbl 1329.14078)] implies that Theorem 1 yields the following fact. Corollary 2. There are only finitely many isomorphism classes of \(K3\) surfaces over a finite field of odd characteristic. The proof of the Tate conjecture in odd characteristic rests on the classical Kuga--Satake construction with Deligne's theory of absolute Hodge cycles and Falting's isogeny theorem. In particular, it is independent of proofs given earlier, when \(k\) has characteristic at least \(5\), by \textit{N. Nygaard} and \textit{A. Ogus} [Ann. Math. (2) 122, 461--507 (1985; Zbl 0591.14005)], and for supersingular \(K3\) surfaces by \textit{D. Maulik} [``Supersingular \(K3\) surfaces for large primes \(p\)''] and \textit{F. Charles} [Invent. Math. 194, No. 1, 119--145 (2013; Zbl 1282.14014); erratum ibid. 202, No. 1, Article ID 594, 481--485 (2015)]. More precisely, it is shown that the classical Kuga--Satake construction gives, away from characteristic \(2\), to an open immersion from the moduli of primitively polarized \(K3\) surfaces (of any fixed degree) to a certain regular integral model for a Shimura variety of orthogonal type. This allows one to attach to every polarized \(K3\) surface in odd characteristic an abelian variety such that divisors on the surface can be identified with certain endomorphisms of the attached abelian variety. This, in turn, reduces the Tate conjecture for \(K3\) surfaces over finitely generated fields of odd characteristic to a version of the Tate conjecture for certain endomorphisms on the attached Kuga--Satake abelian variety. This is what is proved in this paper. The precise formulation of the Tate conjecture proved is the following Theorem 3. Given any field \(k\) of odd characteristic \(p\) and a polarized \(K3\) surface \((Z,\xi)\) over \(k\), there exists a finite separable extension \(k^{\prime}/k\) and an abelian variety \(A\) over \(k^{\prime}\), the \textbf{Kuga--Satake} abelian variety such that the \({\mathbb Z}_{\ell}\) and crystalline realizations of the primitive cohomology \(PH^2(X,\xi)\) embed naturally within those of \(H^1(A)\otimes H^1(A)\). Moreover, there is a canonical inclusion \[ \text{{Pic}}(X_{k^{\prime}})\supset <\xi>^{\perp} \hookrightarrow \text{{End}}(A) \] compatible, via the cycle class maps, with the corresponding embeddings of cohomology groups. Its image consists of those endomorphisms whose cohomological realizations in \(H^1(A)\otimes H^1(A)(1)\) lie in the image of \(PH^2(X,\xi)\).