On the characteristic polynomial of the Frobenius on étale cohomology (Q498672)

The authors study the value at \(-1\) of the characteristic polynomial of the Frobenius \(H^d(\bar{X},\mathbb{Q}_l(d/2))\). They prove the following: ``Theorem 1.5. Let \(X\) be a smooth proper variety of even dimension \(d\) over a finite field \(\mathbb{F}_q\) of characteristic \(p\), and let \(\Phi \in \mathbb{Q}[T]\) be the characteristic polynomial of the Frobenius on \(H^d(X_{\bar{\mathbb{F}}_q},\mathbb{Q}_l(d/2))\). Then \((-2)^{\mathrm{deg}{\Phi}}\Phi(-1)\) is a square or \(p\) times a square in \(\mathbb{Q}\).'' They also prove that \((-2)^{\mathrm{deg}{\Phi}}q^{a(X)}\Phi(-1)\) is a square for a certain integer \(a(X)\) depending on the abstract Hodge numbers of \(X\) in degree \(d\).