Etale descent obstruction and anabelian geometry of curves over finite fields (Q6576875)

From the introduction: ``For a smooth, proper and geometrically integral curve \(X\) over a global field \(k\), it is well known that the Hasse principle can fail. That is, \(X\) may contain points over every completion of \(k\), yet fail to have any \(k\)-rational point. All known examples of this phenomenon can be explained by a finite descent obstruction. This means that there is a torsor \(f: Y \to X\) under a finite group scheme over \(k\) such that no twist of \(Y\) contains points over every completion. Since any \(k\)-rational point must lift to some twist of \(f\), this yields an obstruction to the existence of \(k\)-rational points on \(X\). A central question in the arithmetic of curves over global fields is to determine whether this is the only obstruction to the existence of \(k\)-rational points. This problem is expected to be very hard in general. For curves of genus 1, it is equivalent to standard conjectures concerning the Tate-Shafarevich groups of elliptic curves. For curves of genus at least 2 over number fields, it is known to follow from Grothendieck's section conjecture, but there are essentially no general results. For a discussion of the finite descent obstruction over number fields, we refer to [\textit{M. Stoll}, Algebra Number Theory 1, No. 4, 349--391 (2007; Zbl 1167.11024)] [\(\ldots\)].\N\NThe situation is much more promising when \(X\) is defined over a global function field, i.e., when \(k= \mathbb{F}(D)\) is the function field of a smooth, proper and geometrically connected curve \(D\) over a finite field \(\mathbb{F}\). Building on work of \textit{B. Poonen} and \textit{J. F. Voloch} [Ann. Math. (2) 171, No. 1, 511--532 (2010; Zbl 1294.11110)] and \textit{D. Rössler}, see [Notre Dame J. Formal Logic 54, No. 3--4, 579--589 (2013; Zbl 1326.14105)] [\textit{B. Creutz} and \textit{J. F. Voloch}, ``The Brauer-Manin obstruction for nonisotrivial curves over global function fields'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:2308.13075}, Appendix], the authors have recently completed a proof that finite descent is the only obstruction for all nonisotrivial curves of genus at least 2; see [loc. cit.]. It thus remains to consider the situation for isotrivial curves. Recall that \(X\) is called constant if it is isomorphic to the base change of a curve defined over \(\mathbb{F}\), and that \(X\) is called isotrivial if it becomes constant after base change to a finite extension of \(k\).\N\NWe formulate a precise version of the conjecture that finite descent is the only obstruction to the existence of \(k\)-rational points on a constant curve over a global function field (Conjecture 1.1) and prove the equivalence of this conjecture with an analogue of Grothendieck's section conjecture for curves over finite fields (see Theorem 3.8). This enables us to use techniques from anabelian geometry which we combine with results of \textit{C. Brendan} and \textit{V. José Felipe} [Ann. Inst. Fourier 72, No. 1, 43--58 (2022; Zbl 1496.11089)] to establish new instances of these conjectures. We prove that finite descent is the only obstruction to the existence of \(k\)-rational points for a constant curve \(X \simeq C \times_F k\) such that the Jacobian of \(C\) is not an isogeny factor of the Jacobian of \(D\) (see Theorem 1.3).''