2-Selmer Parity for Hyperelliptic Curves in Quadratic Extensions

We study the 2-parity conjecture for Jacobians of hyperelliptic curves over number fields. Under some mild assumptions on their reduction, we prove it over quadratic extensions of the base field, providing essentially the first examples of the 2-parity conjecture in dimension greater than one. The proof proceeds via a generalisation of a formula of Kramer and Tunnell relating local invariants of the curve, which may be of independent interest. Particularly surprising is the appearance in the formula of terms that govern whether or not the Cassels-Tate pairing on the Jacobian is alternating, which first appeared in a paper of Poonen and Stoll. We prove this local formula in many instances and show that in all cases it follows from standard global conjectures.Comment: 47 pages, 3 figure

Regulator constants and the parity conjecture

The p-parity conjecture for twists of elliptic curves relates multiplicities of Artin representations in p-infinity Selmer groups to root numbers. In this paper we prove this conjecture for a class of such twists. For example, if E/Q is semistable at 2 and 3, K/Q is abelian and K^\infty is its maximal pro-p extension, then the p-parity conjecture holds for twists of E by all orthogonal Artin representations of Gal(K^\infty/Q). We also give analogous results when K/Q is non-abelian, the base field is not Q and E is replaced by an abelian variety. The heart of the paper is a study of relations between permutation representations of finite groups, their "regulator constants", and compatibility between local root numbers and local Tamagawa numbers of abelian varieties in such relations.Comment: 50 pages; minor corrections; final version, to appear in Invent. Mat

Finite quotients of Z[C_n]-lattices and Tamagawa numbers of semistable abelian varieties

We investigate the behaviour of Tamagawa numbers of semistable principally polarised abelian varieties in extensions of local fields. In view of the Raynaud parametrisation, this translates into a purely algebraic problem concerning the number of $H$-invariant points on a quotient of $C_n$-lattices $\Lambda/e\Lambda'$ for varying subgroups $H$ of $C_n$ and integers $e$. In particular, we give a simple formula for the change of Tamagawa numbers in totally ramified extensions (corresponding to varying $e$) and one that computes Tamagawa numbers up to rational squares in general extensions. As an application, we extend some of the existing results on the $p$-parity conjecture for Selmer groups of abelian varieties by allowing more general local behaviour. We also give a complete classification of the behaviour of Tamagawa numbers for semistable 2-dimensional principally polarised abelian varieties, that is similar to the well-known one for elliptic curves. The appendix explains how to use this classification for Jacobians of genus 2 hyperelliptic curves given by equations of the form $y^2=f(x)$, under some simplifying hypotheses.Comment: Two new lemmas are added. The first describes permutation representations, and the second describes the dependence of the B-group on the maximal fixpoint-free invariant sublattice. Contact details and bibliographic details have been update

Black Box Galois Representations

We develop methods to study $2$-dimensional $2$-adic Galois representations $\rho$ of the absolute Galois group of a number field $K$, unramified outside a known finite set of primes $S$ of $K$, which are presented as Black Box representations, where we only have access to the characteristic polynomials of Frobenius automorphisms at a finite set of primes. Using suitable finite test sets of primes, depending only on $K$ and $S$, we show how to determine the determinant $\det\rho$, whether or not $\rho$ is residually reducible, and further information about the size of the isogeny graph of $\rho$ whose vertices are homothety classes of stable lattices. The methods are illustrated with examples for $K=\mathbb{Q}$, and for $K$ imaginary quadratic, $\rho$ being the representation attached to a Bianchi modular form. These results form part of the first author's thesis.Comment: 40 pages, 3 figures. Numerous minor revisions following two referees' report