Prolegomena to a Middlebrow Arithmetic of Curves of Genus 2 [Paperback]

A unique insight into the topic of curves of genus 2, by two of the world's leading practitioners.The authors include an explicit treatment of the Jacobian, which throws new light onto the geometry of the Kummer surface. Mathematicians can then determine the Mordell-Weil group for many curves, and in many nontribial cases they can find all rational points.The authors include an explicit treatment of the Jacobian, which throws new light onto the geometry of the Kummer surface. Mathematicians can then determine the Mordell-Weil group for many curves, and in many nontribial cases they can find all rational points.The number theoretic properties of curves of genus 2 are attracting increasing attention. This book provides new insights into this subject; much of the material here is entirely new, and none has appeared in book form before. The authors include an explicit treatment of the Jacobian, which throws new light onto the geometry of the Kummer surface. Mathematicians can then determine the Mordell-Weil group for many curves, and in many nontrivial cases they can find all rational points. The results exemplify the power of computer algebra in diophantine contexts, but computer expertise is not assumed in the main text. Number theorists, algebraic geometers and workers in related areas will find that this book offers unique insights.Background and conventions; 1. Curves of genus 2; 2. Construction of the jacobian; 3. The Kummer surface; 4. The dual of the Kummer; 5. Weddle's surface; 6. G/2G; 7. The jacobian over local fields; Formal groups; 8. Torsion; 9. The isogeny; Theory; 10. The isogeny; Applications; 11. Computing the Mordell-Weil group; 12. Heights; 13. Rational points Chabauty's theorem; 14. Reducible jacobians; 15. The endomorphism ring; 16. The desingularized Kummer; 17. A neoclassical approach; 18. Zukunftsmusik; Appendix 1. MAPLE programs; Appendix 2. Files available by FTP. The volume is a comprehensive introduction to the burgeoning theory of computalÃ7