On the maximum gonality of a curve over a finite field (Q6971770)

The gonality of a curve \(C\) is the minimum degree of a non-constant morphism from \(C\) to \(\mathbb P^1\). Over a finite field, it is known that the gonality of a curve of genus \(g\ge 3\) is bounded above by \(g+1\), and by \(g\) if it has a rational point. This paper gives the complete list of cases when genus-\(g\) curves over \(\mathbb{F}_q\) can have gonality \(g+1\). For example, when \(g\ge 5\), they show that this never happens, and they prove that the curves of genus \(4\) can have gonality \(5\) only over \(\mathbb F_2\) and \(\mathbb F_3\). When \(g=3\), it follows almost immediately from [\textit{E. W. Howe} et al., Séminaires et Congrès 11, 125--141 (2005; Zbl 1116.14010)] that the gonality can be \(4\) over \(\mathbb F_q\) only for \(q\le 23\) or \(q=29\) or \(q=32\), but the method of this paper allows the authors to give equations of all such curves. For the proof, they first use the Weil bound to give a bound of \(q\) without \(\mathbb{F}_q\)-rational points. The gonality condition implies certain relations among \(a_i = \# C(\mathbb F_{q^i})\), and they use Serre's and Lauter's algorithm to determine a finite list of certain polynomials which are determined by these \(a_i\)'s. This forces \(g=4,5,6,7,9\) and a very restricted list of \(q\)'s for each \(g\). Then they check birational models of each candidate using an efficient computer program. To rule out the \(g=9\) candidate, they use information on group schemes that can arise as kernels of polarization of abelian varieties [\textit{E. W. Howe}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 347, No. 7, 2361--2401 (1995; Zbl 0859.14016)].