The class number of quadratic fields and the conjectures of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer
We study a moduli space for Artin-Schreier curves of genus over an algebraically closed field of characteristic . We study the stratification of by -rank into strata of Artin-Schreier curves of genus with -rank exactly . We enumerate the irreducible components of and find their dimensions. As an application, when , we prove that every irreducible component of the moduli space of hyperelliptic -curves with genus and -rank has dimension . We also determine all pairs for...