On \(d\)-gonality of Drinfel'd modular curves and strong uniform boundedness conjecture (Q696372)

The Uniform Boundedness Conjecture for Drinfeld modules was stated by \textit{B. Poonen} in [Math. Ann. 308, 571--586 (1997; Zbl 0891.11034)] where he also proved it for all Drinfeld modules of rank \(1\). Most obviously analogous to the famous Uniform Boundedness Conjecture for elliptic curves is the following special case of the conjecture: If \(L\) ranges over all extensions of \({\mathbb F}_q(T)\) of degree \(d\) and \(\phi\) ranges over all Drinfeld \({\mathbb F}_q[T]\)-modules of rank \(2\) on \(L\), there exists a uniform bound (depending only on \(d\) and \(q\)) for the cardinality of the submodule of \(L\)-rational torsion points of \(\phi\). In the paper under review the authors discuss upper bounds for \({\mathfrak n}\in {\mathbb F}_q[T]\) if the Drinfeld modular curve \(X_0({\mathfrak n})\) is \(d\)-gonal. Then they try to use this to prove the case of the conjecture described above. Unfortunately, the proof of their main theorem 3.2 contains an irreparable gap. The assertion that if \(L\) is \(d\)-gonal and there exists a rank \(2\) Drinfeld module with an \(L\)-rational \({\mathfrak n}\)-torsion point, then the reduction of \(X_0({\mathfrak n})\) is also \(d\)-gonal, is not justified. Indeed, a counterexample in the reviewer's paper [Math. Z. 244, 601--614 (2003; Zbl 1037.11041)] shows that this claim is not true. Thus the conjecture should currently be considered open except for the partial results in \textit{M. Rosen} [J. Number Theory 103, No. 2, 234--256 (2003; Zbl 1049.11060)] and in the reviewer's paper (loc. cit.).