Jacobians among abelian threefolds: a geometric approach

DOI10.1007/S00208-010-0583-6MaRDI QIDQ636756zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Arnaud Beauville, Christophe Ritzenthaler

Publication date 30 August 2011

Published in Mathematische Annalen (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1005.3683

abelian threefold genus 3 curve Jacobian Recilla's construction

Abelian varieties of dimension (> 1) (11G10) Arithmetic ground fields for curves (14H25) Jacobians, Prym varieties (14H40) Special algebraic curves and curves of low genus (14H45) Arithmetic ground fields for abelian varieties (14K15)

Abstract: Let A be a principally polarized abelian threefold over a perfect field k, not isomorphic to a product over the algebraic closure of k. There exists a canonical extension k' of k, of degree 1 or 2, such that A becomes isomorphic to a Jacobian over k'. The aim of this note is to give a geometric construction of this extension.

Review text

Let \((A,\theta)\) be a principally polarized abelian threefold over a perfect field \(k\), and suppose that \((A,\theta)\) is indecomposable over \(\bar{k}\). As remarked by Serre in an appendix of [\textit{K. Lauter}, J. Algebr. Geom. 10, No. 1, 19--36 (2001; Zbl 0982.14015)], there exists a genus \(3\) curve \(C\) over \(k\) and a character \(\epsilon_A: \text{Gal}(\bar{k}/k)\rightarrow\{\pm1\}\), such that \((A,\theta)\) is \(k\)-isomorphic to \(\text{Jac}\,C\) twisted by \(\epsilon_A\). The character \(\epsilon_A\) is trivial if \(C\) is hyperelliptic. In the non-hyperelliptic case, \(\epsilon_A\) was described in terms of the action of a certain Siegel modular form in [\textit{G. Lachaud, C. Ritzenthaler} and \textit{A. Zykin}, Math. Res. Lett. 17, No. 2, 323--333 (2010; Zbl 1228.14028)]. The paper under review obtains a geometric description of the quadratic extension \(k'/k\) determined by the character \(\epsilon_A\). Under mild assumptions, Recilla's construction is used to obtain a non-hyperelliptic smooth curve of genus \(4\), whose canonical model lies in a smooth quadric \(Q\subset\mathbb{P}^3\). If \((A,\theta)\) is a Jacobian, then it is proved that \(Q\) is \(k\)-isomorphic to \(\mathbb{P}^1\times \mathbb{P}^1\). Otherwise, the non-trivial automorphism of the extension \(k'/k\) exchanges the two rulings of \(Q\).

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