We deal with $g$-dimensional abelian varieties $X$ over finite fields. We prove that there is an universal constant (positive integer) $N=N(g)$ that depends only on $g$ that enjoys the following properties. If a certain self-product of $X$ carries an exotic Tate class then the self-product $X^{2N}$of $X$ also carries an exotic Tate class. This gives a positive answer to a question of Kiran Kedlaya.
These are notes of my lectures at the summer school Higher-dimensional geometry over finite fields in Goettingen, June--July 2007. We present a proof of Tates theorem on homomorphisms of abelian varieties over finite fields (including the $ell=p$ case) that is based on a quaternion trick. In fact, a a slightly stronger version of those theorems with finite coefficients is proven.
We show that the infinitesimal deformations of the Brill--Noether locus $W_d$ attached to a smooth non-hyperelliptic curve $C$ are in one-to-one correspondence with the deformations of $C$. As an application, we prove that if a Jacobian $J$ deforms together with a minimal cohomology class out the Jacobian locus, then $J$ is hyperelliptic. In particular, this provides an evidence to a conjecture of Debarre on the classification of ppavs carrying a minimal cohomology class. Finally, we also study simultaneous deformations of Fano surfaces of lines and intermediate Jacobians.
Over complex numbers, the Fourier-Mukai partners of abelian varieties are well-understood. A celebrated result is Orlovs derived Torelli theorem. In this note, we study the FM-partners of abelian varieties in positive characteristic. We notice that, in odd characteristics, two abelian varieties of odd dimension are derived equivalent if their associated Kummer stacks are derived equivalent, which is Krug and Sosnas result over complex numbers. For abelian surfaces in odd characteristic, we show that two abelian surfaces are derived equivalent if and only if their associated Kummer surfaces are isomorphic. This extends the result [doi:10.1215/s0012-7094-03-12036-0] to odd characteristic fields, which solved a classical problem originally from Shioda. Furthermore, we establish the derived Torelli theorem for supersingular abelian varieties and apply it to characterize the quasi-liftable birational models of supersingular generalized Kummer varieties.
Let $[X,lambda]$ be a principally polarized abelian variety over a finite field with commutative endomorphism ring; further suppose that either $X$ is ordinary or the field is prime. Motivated by an equidistribution heuristic, we introduce a factor $ u_v([X,lambda])$ for each place $v$ of $mathbb Q$, and show that the product of these factors essentially computes the size of the isogeny class of $[X,lambda]$. The derivation of this mass formula depends on a formula of Kottwitz and on analysis of measures on the group of symplectic similitudes, and in particular does not rely on a calculation of class numbers.