alphaFeedback

WorksMathematics

The Height-Conductor Ratio on Curve Towers: Closed Forms for the Fermat Tower, the One-Third Barrier, and the Attainable Set

AI contributions
Not recorded for this paper
View details

Abstract

For a tower of curves XnX_n over a number field with fixed bad-reduction set and gn→∞g_n \to \infty, we study the ratio of the stable Faltings height to the conductor of its Jacobian, κn:=hF(Jac(Xn))/log⁡cond(Jac(Xn))\kappa_n := h_F(\mathrm{Jac}(X_n))/\log \mathrm{cond}(\mathrm{Jac}(X_n)). We prove four groups of results. (I) Closed forms for the Fermat tower: slope log⁡p4 n\frac{\log p}{4}\,n and second-order intercept −6log⁡A-6\log A (AA the Glaisher-Kinkelin constant), yielding κFermat=18\kappa_{\mathrm{Fermat}} = \frac{1}{8}; the orbit stratification is strictly increasing and converges to 18\frac{1}{8} from below. (II) A one-third barrier κ≤13\kappa \leq \frac{1}{3} for GL2\mathrm{GL}_2-type towers with σ→1\sigma \to 1, conditional on arithmetic BMY in general (Problem 10.1) and unconditional on modular towers, where the BMY input is a theorem (Dolce-Mercuri, Mayer) and where X0(N)X_0(N) attains equality asymptotically, so the constant cannot be improved. (III) The barrier is strictly stronger than BMY: κ≤13⇒R≤4σ−1≤3\kappa \leq \frac{1}{3} \Rightarrow R \leq \frac{4}{\sigma} - 1 \leq 3. (IV) The closure of the attainable set in the abelian-variety tower world is [112,13][\frac{1}{12}, \frac{1}{3}]: the lower end is unconditional (Zhang, Wilms) and attained by Heisenberg towers, the upper end is the barrier and is attained by modular towers, and the interior is densely (countably) filled by reindexed product convexity; the curve-tower interior filling remains open. We further record three structural negative results: the archimedean channel is absorbed into the discriminant channel by the product formula; totally rational branch-point hyperelliptic families are closed off by Evertse's theorem; and the Belyi/PU route is likewise closed by SS-unit equations. The discriminant channel is recast in the thickness language with an explicit upper bound (unconditional for automorphic towers, conditional on the analyticity of L(A,s)L(A,s) in general), and a fully unconditional alternative based on the Brumer-Kramer conductor bound moves - but does not close - the remaining gap. All conditional dependencies are explicitly flagged in the body; all corrections are recorded in the revision history, Appendix B.

Introduction

From abc to the height–conductor ratio

Let E/QE/\mathbb{Q} be an elliptic curve with minimal discriminant Δmin⁡\Delta_{\min} and conductor NN. The classical Szpiro conjecture asserts that for every ε>0\varepsilon> 0 there is a C(ε)C(\varepsilon) with

∣Δmin⁡∣≤C(ε)N6+ε.|\Delta_{\min}| \le C(\varepsilon)N^{6+\varepsilon}.

Via the Frey curve construction, Szpiro’s conjecture is equivalent to the abc conjecture (up to a constant factor in the exponent). On the other hand, for fixed g=1g=1 the stable Faltings height satisfies a Noether-type formula, and the boundedness of

κ(E):=hF(E)log⁡N\kappa(E) := \frac{h_{\mathrm{F}}(E)}{\log N}

as g→∞g \to\infty with varying bad set is another way of writing a Szpiro-type statement. This paper promotes the question to curve towers.

The question

Definition 1.1 (Tower). A curve tower over a number field KK is a sequence of smooth proper geometrically connected curves Xn/KX_n/K (n≥1n \ge1) such that (T1) gn:=g(Xn)→∞g_n := g(X_n) \to\infty;

(T2) there is a finite set SS of places such that every XnX_n has good reduction outside SS;

(T3) writing An:=Jac⁡(Xn)A_n := \operatorname{Jac}(X_n) and Ln:=log⁡cond⁡(An)L_n := \log\operatorname{cond}(A_n), the per-dimension conductor f^n:=Ln/gn\hat{f}_n := L_n/g_n satisfies f^n→∞\hat{f}_n \to\infty.

Such a tower is said to lie in the tower world.

Problem 1.2. For a tower {Xn}\{X_n\}, what are the limits of

κn=hF(An)Ln,An=Jac⁡(Xn),Ln=log⁡cond⁡(An)?\kappa_n = \frac{h_F(A_n)}{L_n}, \qquad A_n = \operatorname{Jac}(X_n), \qquad L_n = \log\operatorname{cond}(A_n)?

Is there a tower-independent bound?

The point is that the question places Szpiro (g=1g=1) and arithmetic BMY (general gg) on the same scale; for g=1g=1 its boundedness is abc.

Overview of results

ResultContentStatus
Theorem 3.1Fermat tower: closed form for h^n\hat{h}_n (slope + intercept)proved
Theorem 3.2, Corollary 3.3conductor density c=2c=2; slope attributionproved
Theorem 3.6, Theorem 3.8orbit stratification; counting closed formsproved
Theorem 4.5, Proposition 5.1one-third barrier κ≤13\kappa\le\frac{1}{3}; identification with Parshin’s arithmetic BMY constantconditional (proved as an equivalence)
Theorem 5.3, Theorem 6.4barrier strictly stronger than BMY; tower-world floorproved
Theorem 7.9closure of the attainable set =[112,13]= [\frac{1}{12}, \frac{1}{3}], densely filledproved
Theorem 8.8totally rational branch-point families closed by Evertseproved
Theorem 8.7δFal≤CΔDel+O(g)\delta_{\mathrm{Fal}} \le C\Delta_{\mathrm{Del}} + O(g); archimedean channel cancelledproved (unconditional)

Table 1.

Notation and the master identity

Basic quantities

Basic quantities. Let X/KX/K be a curve of genus g≥1g \ge1 over a number field and A=Jac⁡(X)A = \operatorname{Jac}(X). Throughout we use the Wilms normalization [21 Cor. 1.2]:

12hF(A)=ωˉ2+ΔDel+δFal.12h_F(A) = \bar{\omega}^{2} + \Delta_{\mathrm{Del}} + \delta_{\mathrm{Fal}}.

where hF(A)h_F(A) is the stable Faltings height (logarithmic); ωˉ2=ωˉA/OK2\bar{\omega}^{2} = \bar{\omega}^{2}_{A/\mathcal{O}_K} is the arithmetic self-intersection of the Arakelov metric; ΔDel\Delta_{\mathrm{Del}} is the Deligne discriminant (logarithm of the sum of local discriminant exponents over finite places); and δFal\delta_{\mathrm{Fal}} is the Faltings delta invariant (Wilms’ normalization).

Remark 2.1 (Normalization). Another common convention is 12hF=ωˉ2+ΔDel+δFal−4glog⁡2π12h_F = \bar{\omega}^{2}+\Delta_{\mathrm{Del}}+\delta_{\mathrm{Fal}}-4g\log2\pi (Moret–Bailly). The two differ by a constant times gg; we use the Wilms convention throughout because its constants are explicit.

Definition 2.2 (Three dimensionless ratios).

κ:=hF(A)log⁡cond⁡(A),σ:=ΔDellog⁡cond⁡(A),R:=ωˉ2ΔDel.\kappa:= \frac{h_F(A)}{\log\operatorname{cond}(A)}, \qquad\sigma:= \frac{\Delta_{\mathrm{Del}}}{\log\operatorname{cond}(A)}, \qquad R := \frac{\bar{\omega}^{2}}{\Delta_{\mathrm{Del}}}.

κ\kappa is the Szpiro-type ratio (boundedness is a Szpiro-type statement), σ\sigma is the BMY-type ratio, and R≤3R \le3 is arithmetic Bogomolov–Miyaoka–Yau.

The master identity

Proposition 2.3. For every A=Jac⁡(X)A = \operatorname{Jac}(X),

κ=σ(1+R)12+δFal12log⁡cond⁡(A).(1)\kappa= \frac{\sigma(1+R)}{12} + \frac{\delta_{\mathrm{Fal}}}{12\log\operatorname{cond}(A)}. \tag*{(1)}

Proof. Divide Wilms’ Noether formula by log⁡cond⁡\log\operatorname{cond} and use ωˉ2=RΔDel=Rσlog⁡cond⁡\bar{\omega}^{2}=R\Delta_{\mathrm{Del}}=R\sigma\log\operatorname{cond}. □

This identity is the hub of the paper: every assertion about κ\kappa is translated into assertions about σ\sigma (arithmetic) and RR (geometry).

Four a priori inequalities

No.StatementSource / Status
(L1)σ≥1\sigma\ge1 (place by place: ΔDel,p=fp+mp−1\Delta_{\mathrm{Del},p}=f_p+m_p-1)Saito [17 Thm. 1]; Liu [12 Prop. 1] (unconditional)
(L2)R≥0R\ge0, i.e. ωˉ2≥0\bar{\omega}^{2}\ge0Zhang [23] (unconditional)
(L3)δFal>−2glog⁡(2π4)=−10.544133 g\delta_{\mathrm{Fal}}>-2g\log(2\pi^{4})=-10.544133\,gWilms [21]
(L4)δFal≤CΔDel+O(g)\delta_{\mathrm{Fal}}\le C\Delta_{\mathrm{Del}}+O(g)product formula (§ 8)

Table 2.3.

Lemma 2.4 (Wild necessity). Let {Xn}\{X_n\} satisfy (T1)(T1)–(T3)(T3) with fixed bad set SS. With fp=dim⁡(V/VIp)+Sw⁡pf_p=\dim(V/V^{I_p})+\operatorname{Sw}_p and dim⁡(V/VIp)≤2gn\dim(V/V^{I_p})\le2g_n,

f^n≤2∑p∈Slog⁡p+∑p∈SSw⁡plog⁡pgn.(2)\hat{f}_n \le2\sum_{p\in S}\log p+\frac{\sum_{p\in S}\operatorname{Sw}_p\log p}{g_n}. \tag*{(2)}

Consequently (T3)(T3) holds if and only if ∑p∈SSw⁡plog⁡pgn→∞\frac{\sum_{p\in S}\operatorname{Sw}_p\log p}{g_n}\to\infty. In particular a tower whose reduction at every p∈Sp\in S is tame (Sw⁡p=0\operatorname{Sw}_p=0) never satisfies (T3)(T3); and a tame semistable tower has f^≤∑p∈Slog⁡p=O(1)\hat{f}\le\sum_{p\in S}\log p=O(1) — the semistable modular towers enter the tower world only by growing the number of bad primes or the conductor exponent, never by semistability itself.

Proof. fp=dim⁡(V/VIp)+Sw⁡pf_p=\dim(V/V^{I_p})+\operatorname{Sw}_p is the standard conductor formula; the first summand is at most dim⁡V=2gn\dim V=2g_n; the rest is the definition of f^n\hat{f}_n.

Conversely, fp≥Sw⁡pf_p\ge\operatorname{Sw}_p (as dim⁡(V/VIp)≥0\dim(V/V^{I_p})\ge0), so ∑p∈SSw⁡plog⁡pgn→∞\frac{\sum_{p\in S}\operatorname{Sw}_p\log p}{g_n}\to\infty forces f^n→∞\hat{f}_n\to\infty. □

References

  1. [1]A. Brumer, K. Kramer, The conductor of an abelian variety, Compositio Math. 92 (1994), 227–248. (Lemma 6.3: for K p-adic, p odd, h separable of odd degree, f_p ≥ ∑ᵢ ν_K(∂Mᵢ/K)f_Mᵢ/K, using only the Artin conductor of B[2], cf. unconditional.)
  2. [3]C. Cain, K-Theory of Fermat Curves, PhD thesis, Churchill College, Cambridge, 2016 (supervisor T. Scholl). The conductor material is Chapter 4 (§4.2 Jacobi sums as Grössencharaktere, §4.3 Finding the conductors); the composite-case bound c_j ≤ 2 is a corollary of that chapter, not a direct citation (quote with the §10.5 honest label).DOI
  3. [4]P. Colmez, Périodes des variétés abéliennes à multiplication complexe, Ann. of Math. 138 (1993), 625–683.DOI
  4. [5]A. Dolce, G. Mercuri, Intersection matrices for the minimal regular model of X₀(N) and applications to the Arakelov canonical sheaf, J. London Math. Soc. (2) 110 (2024), no. 2, e12964, doi:10.1112/jlms.12964. (ω̄² ∼ 3g log N for N > 1 coprime to 6, N ∉ {5, 7, 13}; the object is X₀(N), including prime-power levels X₀(pⁿ), p > 3.)DOI
  5. [6]J.-H. Evertse, On equations in S-units and the Thue–Mahler equation, Invent. Math. 75 (1984), 561–584.DOI
  6. [9]A. Gallese, J. Goodson, D. Lombardo, On the nondegeneracy of simple factors attached to Jacobi sums, arXiv:2405.20394. [Caveat added in this revision: this preprint could not be located in the arXiv listing; the c_j ≤ 2 conductor input of §10.5 should be re-verified against the published record before citation.]
  7. [12]Q. Liu, Conducteur et discriminant minimal de courbes de genre 2, Compositio Math. 94 (1994), 51–79. (Prop. 1: − Art m = m − 1 + φ; cited as the standard arbitrary-genus result, see Remark 2.5.)
  8. [13]L. Melnikas, Root numbers of curves of genus 1 and 2 having maximal ramification, arXiv:2102.07745. Withdrawn as evidence for (L1) in general genus: the cited Eq. (2.5.1) does not occur in this paper (E48).
  9. [14]A. Obus, P. Srinivasan, Conductor-discriminant inequality for hyperelliptic curves in characteristic 2, Compositio Math. 158 (2022), 2435–2476. (Mac Lane valuations; Thm. 1.1.)
  10. [15]A. Obus, P. Srinivasan, J. Stewart, Conductor-Discriminant Inequality for Tamely Ramified Cyclic Covers I, arXiv:2609.20553. Conditional: the proof depends on calculations of the third author (arXiv:2609.20585); the main inequality is upper-bound directed, whereas our citation in Remark 2.5 concerns the identity-type Prop. 1.8 — the direction of use should be rechecked (E48).
  11. [16]A. N. Parshin, Finiteness theorems and hyperbolic manifolds, Sémin. Théor. Nombres Paris 1986–87, Progr. Math. 75, Birkhäuser, Boston, 1988, 299–312. (The arithmetic BMY inequality is conjectured there; it is not a theorem.)
  12. [17]T. Saito, Conductor, discriminant, and the Noether formula of arithmetic surfaces, Duke Math. J. 57 (1988), 151–173. (Thm. 1: δₚ = − Artₚ; MR0952229.)
  13. [18]P. Tchamitchian, Explicit lower bounds on the conductors of elliptic curves and abelian varieties over number fields, arXiv:2410.12922. (The arXiv comment “Proof of the form of the L-function of abelian varieties added” independently confirms the version-level evidence of Problem 10.6.)arxiv.org/abs/2410.12922
  14. [19]S. Ünver, An Arakelov theoretic proof of the equality of conductor and discriminant, J. Théor. Nombres Bordeaux 16 (2004), no. 2, 423–427.
  15. [20]A. Werner, Arakelov intersection indices on Mumford curves, Math. Ann. 306 (1996), 649–687.
  16. [21]J. Wilms, New explicit formulas for the Faltings delta invariant, Invent. Math. 209 (2017), 481–539. (Cor. 1.2.)DOI
  17. [22]X. Yuan, S.-W. Zhang, The arithmetic Hodge index theorem for adelic line bundles, Math. Ann. 367 (2017), 1123–1171, doi:10.1007/s00208-016-1414-1. (The lower-bound direction is proved and the conjectural status of arithmetic BMY is stated explicitly.)DOI
  18. [23]S. Zhang, Admissible pairing on a curve, Invent. Math. 112 (1993), 171–193.DOI
  19. [24]J.-F. Mestre, Formules explicites et minorations de conducteurs de variétés algébriques, Compositio Math. 58 (1986), 209–232. (The bound requires L(A, S) to be analytic; see the version-level evidence in Problem 10.6.)
  20. [25]J. Jorgenson, J. Kramer, Bounds on the Faltings delta function through covers, Ann. of Math. (2) 170 (2009), no. 1, 1–43. (Thm. 5.6 and Rem. 5.8: δ₍Føl₎ = O(g) with universal constant on X₀(N), X₁(N), X(N); Thm. 4.5 is the general form, and the fixed-base Cor. 4.6 does not apply directly to X₀(N) → X(1) as their own text notes.)DOI
  21. [26]H. Mayer, Self-intersection of the relative dualizing sheaf on modular curves X₁(N), J. Théor. Nombres Bordeaux 26 (2014), 111–161. (§1.2: ω̄² = 3g log N + o in the 1/φ(N) normalization. Caution: the height corollary hF = 4/9 log N appears to quote ω̄²/12 only — the ΔDel term is dropped; corrected value 2/3 log N. We cite the ω̄² asymptotic, not the height.)DOI
  22. [27]F. Grados, A. von Pippich, On the self-intersection of the relative dualizing sheaf on X(N), arXiv:2205.11437. (Coefficient 2, same 1/φ(N) normalization. A dissertation version gives 4g log N; factor-2 discrepancy under audit, G-B202.)arxiv.org/abs/2205.11437
  23. [28]B. Conrad, B. Edixhoven, W. Stein, J₁(p) has connected fibers, Doc. Math. 8 (2003), 331–408. (Thm. 1.1.2: minimal regular special fiber geometrically integral ⇒ mₚ = 1.)
  24. [29]P. Michel, E. Ullmo, Points de petite hauteur sur les courbes modulaires X₀(N), Invent. Math. 131 (1998), 645–674.DOI
  25. [30]A. Abbes, E. Ullmo, À propos de la conjecture de Manin pour les courbes elliptiques modulaires, J. Reine Angew. Math. 484 (1997), 1–70.
  26. [31]D. Rohrlich, Jacobi sums and explicit reciprocity laws, Compositio Math. 60 (1986), 97–114, MR867959. The attribution of the Jacobi-sum conductor bound f | p² to this paper should be cross-checked against H. Miki’s unpublished 1988 preprint “On the conductor of the Jacobi sum Hecke character” .

Paper details

vlnc:W_2r8xq84u
v1 · latestHistory (1)

published · Fresh — added to the Hub within the last 30 days

added ·

Usage

views · 4

downloads · 0

A view counts once per browser per day, a download each time the PDF is requested.

CC BY 4.0

Original source

  • Mathematics

Not recorded for this paper · View statement →

Looking for related papers…
Contents