On the Zeta Function of Forms of Fermat Equations

For a plane curve, a point in the projective plane is said to be Galois when the point projection induces a Galois extension of function fields. We give a new characterization of a Fermat curve whose degree minus one is a power of $p$ in characteristic $p>2$, which is sometimes called Hermitian, by the number of Galois points lying on the curve.

We give an algorithm to compute the periods of smooth projective hypersurfaces of any dimension. This is an improvement over existing algorithms which could only compute the periods of plane curves. Our algorithm reduces the evaluation of period integrals to an initial value problem for ordinary differential equations of Picard-Fuchs type. In this way, the periods can be computed to extreme-precision in order to study their arithmetic properties. The initial conditions are ob...

In this paper we consider the curves $H_{k,t}^{(p)} : y^{p^k}+y=x^{p^{kt}+1}$ over $\mathbb F_p$ and and find an exact formula for the number of $\mathbb F_{p^n}$-rational points on $H_{k,t}^{(p)}$ for all integers $n\ge 1$. We also give the condition when the $L$-polynomial of a Hermitian curve divides the $L$-polynomial of another over $\mathbb F_p$.

We provide several extensions of the modular method which were motivated by the problem of completing previous work to prove that, for any integer $n \geq 2$, the equation \[ x^{13} + y^{13} = 3 z^n \] has no non-trivial solutions. In particular, we present four elimination techniques which are based on: (1) establishing reducibility of certain residual Galois representations over a totally real field; (2) generalizing image of inertia arguments to the setting of abelian surf...

This paper develops a framework of algebra whereby every Diophantine equation is made quickly accessible by a study of the corresponding row entries in an array of numbers which we call the Newtonian triangles. We then apply this framework to the understandimg of the Fermat's Last Theorem and discuss some of its direct consequences.

This paper provides specific results on the Igusa local zeta function for the curves $x^n+y^m$. In addition to specific results, we give an introduction to $p$-adic analysis and a discussion of various methods which have been used to compute these zeta functions. The paper was written by the 1992 REU group in $p$-adic analysis supervised by Margaret Robinson. It has been available on the Mount Holyoke REU website.

Let $\mathcal{X}$ be an irreducible algebraic curve defined over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ of characteristic $p>2$. Assume that the $\mathbb{F}_q$-automorphism group of $\mathcal{X}$ admits as an automorphism group the direct product of two cyclic groups $C_m$ and $C_n$ of orders $m$ and $n$ prime to $p$ such that both quotient curves $\mathcal{X}/C_n$ and $\mathcal{X}/C_m$ are rational. In this paper, we provide a complete classification of such curves, as well as a char...

This is an expository paper which gives a simple arithmetic introduction to the conjectures of Weil and Dwork concerning zeta functions of algebraic varieties over finite fields. A number of further open questions are raised.

In this article, I discuss material which is related to the recent proof of Fermat's Last Theorem: elliptic curves, modular forms, Galois representations and their deformations, Frey's construction, and the conjectures of Serre and of Taniyama--Shimura.

Information about the absolute Galois group $G_K$ of a number field $K$ is encoded in how it acts on the \'etale fundamental group $\pi$ of a curve $X$ defined over $K$. In the case that $K=\mathbb{Q}(\zeta_n)$ is the cyclotomic field and $X$ is the Fermat curve of degree $n \geq 3$, Anderson determined the action of $G_K$ on the \'etale homology with coefficients in $\mathbb{Z}/n \mathbb{Z}$.The \'etale homology is the first quotient in the lower central series of the \'etal...