This article is a short version of the paper published in J. Number Theory 145 (2014) but we add new results and a brief discussion about the Torsion Conjecture. Consider the family of superelliptic curves (over ℚ) $C_{q,p,a}:y^q=x^p+a$, and its Jacobians $J_{q,p,a}$, where 2 < q < p are primes. We give the full (resp. partial) characterization of the torsion part of $J_{3,5,a}\left(\mathbb{Q}\right)$ (resp. $J_{q,p,a}\left(\mathbb{Q}\right)$). The main tools are computations of the zeta function of $C_{3,5,a}$ (resp. $C_{q,p,a}$) over ${}_l$ for primes l ≡ 1,2,4,8,11 (mod 15) (resp. for primes l...

Consider the families of curves $C^{n,A}:y²=xⁿ+Ax$ and $C_{n,A}:y²=xⁿ+A$ where A is a nonzero rational. Let $J^{n,A}$ and $J_{n,A}$ denote their respective Jacobian varieties. The torsion points of $C^{3,A}\left(\mathbb{Q}\right)$ and $C_{3,A}\left(\mathbb{Q}\right)$ are well known. We show that for any nonzero rational A the torsion subgroup of $J^{7,A}\left(\mathbb{Q}\right)$ is a 2-group, and for A ≠ 4a⁴,-1728,-1259712 this subgroup is equal to $J^{7,A}\left(\mathbb{Q}\right)\left[2\right]$ (for a excluded values of A, with the possible exception of A = -1728, this group has a point of order 4). This is a variant of the corresponding results for $J^{3,A}$ (A ≠ 4) and $J^{5,A}$. We...

Let $C$ be a hyperelliptic curve of genus $g\ge 1$ over a number field $K$ with good reduction outside a finite set of places $S$ of $K$. We prove that $C$ has a Weierstrass model over the ring of integers of $K$ with height effectively bounded only in terms of $g$, $S$ and $K$. In particular, we obtain that for any given number field $K$, finite set of places $S$ of $K$ and integer $g\ge 1$ one can in principle determine the set of $K$-isomorphism classes of hyperelliptic curves over $K$ of genus $g$ with good reduction outside...

Let $G$ be a group and $\omega \left(G\right)$ be the set of element orders of $G$. Let $k\in \omega \left(G\right)$ and $m_k\left(G\right)$ be the number of elements of order $k$ in $G$. Let nse$\left(G\right)=\{m_k\left(G\right):k\in \omega \left(G\right)\}$. Assume $r$ is a prime number and let $G$ be a group such that nse$\left(G\right)=$ nse$\left(S_r\right)$, where $S_r$ is the symmetric group of degree $r$. In this paper we prove that $G\cong S_r$, if $r$ divides the order of $G$ and $r^2$ does not divide it. To get the conclusion we make use of some well-known results on the prime graphs of finite simple groups and their components.

Given an integer $n\ge 3$, let $u_1,...,u_n$ be pairwise coprime integers $\ge 2$, $𝒟$ a family of nonempty proper subsets of $\{1,...,n\}$ with “enough” elements, and $\epsilon$ a function $𝒟\to \{\pm 1\}$. Does there exist at least one prime $q$ such that $q$ divides ${\prod }_{i\in I}{u}_i-\epsilon \left(I\right)$ for some $I\in 𝒟$, but it does not divide $u_1\cdots u_n$? We answer this question in the positive when the $u_i$ are prime powers and $\epsilon$ and $𝒟$ are subjected to certain restrictions. We use the result to prove that, if ${\epsilon }_0\in \{\pm 1\}$ and $A$ is a set of three or more primes that contains all prime divisors of any...

Let $C$ be a smooth curve of genus $g$. For each positive integer $r$ the birational $r$-gonality $s_r\left(C\right)$ of $C$ is the minimal integer $t$ such that there is $L\in {\text{Pic}}^t\left(C\right)$ with $h^0(C,L)=r+1$. Fix an integer $r\ge 3$. In this paper we prove the existence of an integer $g_r$ such that for every integer $g\ge g_r$ there is a smooth curve $C$ of genus $g$ with $s_{r+1}\left(C\right)/(r+1)>s_r\left(C\right)/r$, i.e. in the sequence of all birational gonalities of $C$ at least one of the slope inequalities fails.

It is proved that real functions on $ℝ$ which can be represented as the difference of two semiconvex functions with a general modulus (or of two lower $C^1$-functions, or of two strongly paraconvex functions) coincide with semismooth functions on $ℝ$ (i.e. those locally Lipschitz functions on $ℝ$ for which $f_{+}^{\text{'}}\left(x\right)={lim}_{t\to x+}{f}_{+}^{\text{'}}\left(t\right)$ and $f_{-}^{\text{'}}\left(x\right)={lim}_{t\to x-}{f}_{-}^{\text{'}}\left(t\right)$ for each $x$). Further, for each modulus $\omega$, we characterize the class $DS{C}_{\omega }$ of functions on $ℝ$ which can be written as $f=g-h$, where $g$ and $h$ are semiconvex with modulus $C\omega$ (for some $C>0$) using a new...

The rational completion $\overline{M}$ of an $R$-module $M$ can be characterized as a ${\tau }_M$-injective hull of $M$ with respect to a (hereditary) torsion functor ${\tau }_M$ depending on $M$. Properties of a torsion functor depending on an $R$-module $M$ are studied.

In this paper, we examine a natural question concerning the divisors of the polynomial $x^n-1$: “How often does $x^n-1$ have a divisor of every degree between $1$ and $n$?” In a previous paper, we considered the situation when $x^n-1$ is factored in $\mathbb{Z}\left[x\right]$. In this paper, we replace $\mathbb{Z}\left[x\right]$ with ${𝔽}_p\left[x\right]$, where $p$ is an arbitrary-but-fixed prime. We also consider those $n$ where this condition holds for all $p$.

Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p\&gt;0$. We study obstructions to lifting to characteristic $0$ the faithful continuous action $\phi$ of a finite group $G$ on $k\left[\right[t\left]\right]$. To each such $\phi$ a theorem of Katz and Gabber associates an action of $G$ on a smooth projective curve $Y$ over $k$. We say that the KGB obstruction of $\phi$ vanishes if $G$ acts on a smooth projective curve $X$ in characteristic $0$ in such a way that $X/H$ and $Y/H$ have the same genus for all subgroups $H\subset G$. We determine for which $G$ the KGB...

Let $k$ be a field of characteristic $p\&gt;0$. Let $D_m$ be a ${BT}_m$ over $k$ (i.e., an $m$-truncated Barsotti–Tate group over $k$). Let $S$ be a $k$-scheme and let $X$ be a ${BT}_m$ over $S$. Let $S_{D_m}\left(X\right)$ be the subscheme of $S$ which describes the locus where $X$ is locally for the fppf topology isomorphic to $D_m$. If $p\ge 5$, we show that $S_{D_m}\left(X\right)$ is pure in $S$, i.e. the immersion $S_{D_m}\left(X\right)\hookrightarrow S$ is affine. For $p\in \{2,3\}$, we prove purity if $D_m$ satisfies a certain technical property depending only on its $p$-torsion $D_m\left[p\right]$. For $p\ge 5$, we apply the developed techniques to show that...