Computational approach to enumerate non-hyperelliptic superspecial curves of genus 4 (Q784843)

A (nonsingular, projective) curve over a field \(L\) of characteristic \(p>0\) is \textit{superspecial} if its Jacobian variety is isomorphic to a product of supersingular elliptic curves over an algebraic closure \(\overline{L}\) of \(L\). For a finite field \({\mathbb F}_{p^a}\) of order \(p^a\), the problem considered in the paper under review is the enumeration of \({\mathbb F}_{p^a}\)-isomorphism classes of superspecial curves of genus \(g\) over \({\mathbb F}_{p^a}\). By a Galois descent argument the authors show in Proposition 2.2.1 that the number of \({\mathbb F}_{p^a}\)-isomorphism classes of superspecial curves of a given genus \(g\) over \({\mathbb F}_{p^a}\) depends only on the parity of the exponent \(a\). Hence, it suffices to consider the cases when \({\mathbb F}_p\) or \({\mathbb F}_{p^2}\). This result is an analogue of Theorem 1.3 for superspecial abelian varieties of \textit{J. Xue} et al. [Doc. Math. 21, 1607--1643 (2016; Zbl 1385.11042)]. The genus \(g=1\) case is Proposition 4.4 of [loc. cit.] and there are some partial results for genus \(2\) and \(3\). For genus \(\geq 4\) the dimension of the moduli space of curves of genus \(g\) is strictly less than that of the moduli space of principally polarized abelian varieties of dimension \(g\), which means that the theory on abelian varieties can not be applied directly in this case. Hence, the first interesting case is when the genus is \(4\). By Theorem 1.1 of \textit{T. Ekedahl} [Math. Scand. 60, 151--178 (1987; Zbl 0641.14007)] there is no superspecial curve of genus \(4\) in characteristic \(\leq 3\) and there is no superspecial hyperelliptic curve of genus \(4\) in characteristic \(\leq 7\). Therefore, attention is restricted to the case of \(p\geq 5\). For genus \(g=4\), in [\textit{M. Kudo} and \textit{S. Harashita} [Finite Fields Appl. 45, 131--169 (2017; Zbl 1404.11089)] the authors prove that there is no superspecial curve of genus \(4\) in characteristic \(7\) and classify the superspecial curves of genus \(4\) over \({\mathbb F}_{25}\). The main result of the paper under review is an enumeration of non-hyperelliptic superspecial curves of genus \(4\) over \({\mathbb F}_5\) and \({\mathbb F}_{11}\) completing the results of their previous article [Finite Fields Appl. 45, 131--169 (2017; Zbl 1404.11089)] in small characteristics. The authors obtain these results using an algorithm to enumerate non-hyperelliptic superspecial curves of genus \(4\) over finite fields of characteristic \(p \geq 5\).