Algebrai

Curves
Robert F. Coleman

Le ture 1
O e hours WF 2:10-3, 901 Evans,email; olemanmath,website;
www.math.berkeley.edu/ oleman/Courses/00/ urves.html.There will be weekly
homework and a take home nal exam. Student presentations will be en ouraged.
This is an introdu tory ourse on algebrai urves. It is good both as a warm up
for Algebrai Geometry 256 and a good pla e start applying ideas and answering
questions from Algebrai Number Theory. Eg., What is the geometry behind the
problem: Find all integer solutions of
X

+ Y n = Z n:

You might know the ring C[x is like the ring Z.

Now C[x is the ring of fun tions on the ane line over C, A1C . You also might
know about lass groups of number rings, i.e., ideals modulo prin ipal ideals. For
rings of integers this is a nite group. If
[

k x; y = x

is a eld and R is the ring

+ yn

1)

it is nite when k is nite, but if k = C, it is innite and has an interesting stru ture.
I will over fun tion elds, valuations, line bundles, the Riemann-Ro h theorem,
the Hurwitz genus formula, the anoni al embedding, zeta fun tions of urves over
nite elds and lots of examples. Prequisites are Math 250A and either 250B or the
onsent of the instru tor. Willingness to learn topi s like Galois theory or tensor
produ ts on the side, as needed, is essential.
There are several useful textbooks, e.g., W. Fulton, Algebrai urves; E. Artin,
Algebrai numbers and algebrai fun tions. The rst is out of print, but I will
arrange to have Xerox opies made for students who want them.
1

What is an algebrai urve? (rst attempt)

Let

be any eld.

One ould say, at least when

= R, it is a urve in the plane ut out by one

equation f (x; y ) = 0. Of ourse, when k is Q or worse, a nite eld, this has some
drawba ks.

Better to say, it is a \one" dimensional \variety" over k .

Let's start with varieties. Suppose k = k. An algebrai subset of

is the

set of ommon solutions of a nite number of polynomials, f1 ; : : : ; fa in n variables,

V
m

=:

(f1 ; : : : ; fa ). A morphism from

to

=:

(g1 ; : : : ; gb )

m.

Is an

-tuple of polynomials in n-variables, (F1 ; : : : ; Fm ), so that

(F1 (v ); : : : ; Fm (v )) 2 W

for all v 2 V .
Examples. V

=: V (y 2

1)) and W = V or W = V (g1 ) where g1 = 0 2 k [z .

(x5

One problem with this notion is that

(x; x

) = V (x; x2

).

We an also make a ring with f1 ; : : : ; fa . Namely,

R

=: k [x1 ; : : : ; xn =(f1 ; : : : ; fa )

whi h is naturally a ring of fun tions on V and observe

[

k x; y = x; x

One denes A(V ) to be

Exer ise.

) 6
=

k x; y = x; x

y :

modulo nilpoten e, Rred . One has,

Two algebrai sets V

and W

( )

isomorphi to A W .

( )

are isomorphi if and only if A V

is