On the classification of algebraic function fields of class number three

AbstractLet F be an algebraic function field of one variable having a finite field Fq with q>2 elements as its field of constants. We determine all such fields for which the class number is three. More precisely, we show that, up to Fq-isomorphism, there are only 8 of such function fields. For q=2 the problem has been solved under the additional hypothesis that the function field is quadratic