Poincaré line bundle Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-14
The normalized universal line bundle restricts to the class on and is trivialized on both zero sections. For a line bundle on an abelian variety, its homomorphism associated to a line bundle on an abelian variety satisfies
as Picard group classes. A choice of trivialization of normalizes the right side; uniqueness then follows from the Seesaw theorem.
If is invertible in the base field, multiplication by on an abelian variety is finite étale: its differential is times the identity, and properness turns its zero-dimensional fibres into finite fibres. The Theorem of the Cube gives for a symmetric ample line bundle. Top intersection products give degree . For each prime power , the kernels killed by have orders ; the classification of finite abelian groups forces cyclic factors of length . Combining the prime powers gives the displayed group.
Tate module 2026-10-14
For an abelian variety and a prime number different from the characteristic, the inverse limit of its geometric -torsion, with transition multiplication by , is its Tate module. For an elliptic curve, it is free of rank two over the p-adic integers and satisfies . The absolute Galois group acts continuously and commutes with all base-defined endomorphisms.
For a smooth connected projective curve with chosen basepoint , the Abel map of an algebraic curve sends to . Every morphism to an abelian variety with factors uniquely through a homomorphism . This universal property converts a curve embedded in an abelian variety into a homomorphism from its Jacobian.
Weil–Châtelet group 2026-10-14
For an abelian variety over a field , its Weil–Châtelet group is the Galois cohomology group , classifying torsors under . Such an algebraic-group torsor becomes after passing to a separable closure but need not have a -point. A chosen geometric point identifies the torsor with and its Galois descent with a cocycle; changing that point adds a coboundary. The zero class is precisely the torsor with a rational point. For an elliptic curve, these torsors are genus-one curves with a specified action and Jacobian. Over a number field the kernel of restriction to every completion is the Tate–Shafarevich group.
For an abelian variety and an integer invertible in the base field, a torsion line bundle has trivial pullback by . Choose a trivialization. The descent action of the kernel on that trivial line bundle acts through a character . Define . This is independent of rescaling the trivialization and bilinear under translation and tensor product. A trivial character descends the trivial bundle, so is trivial. Since both groups have order , the character map is an isomorphism and the Weil pairing for an abelian variety is perfect. The theta autoduality of a Jacobian turns it into a pairing on two copies of the Jacobian variety's torsion group.