Rational points need not generate the degree-zero Picard group

ID: rational-points-need-not-generate-the-degree-zero-picard-group

Let be the smooth projective model over of . Its only rational point is its unique point at infinity. At that point have pole orders two and five. The degree-two closed point defined by , gives a nonzero class . Indeed a function with poles bounded by has the form : in the affine coordinate ring every function is uniquely , and the two possible pole orders have opposite parity. No nonzero vanishes at both roots of . Thus the Abel map of a pointed smooth projective curve on rational points has trivial image here, but the degree-zero Picard group of a curve is nontrivial. Generation by point differences needs an algebraically closed field, or closed points with their residue degrees instead of just rational points.

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