Explicit arithmetic intersection theory and computation of Néron-Tate heights

Computing canonical heights using arithmetic intersection theory

The canonical height ĥ on an abelian variety A defined over a global field k is an object of fundamental importance in the study of the arithmetic of A. For many applications it is required to compute ĥ(P ) for a given point P ∈ A(k). For instance, given generators of a subgroup of the Mordell-Weil group A(k) of finite index, this is necessary for most known approaches to the computation of gen...

An Explicit Theory of Heights

We consider the problem of explicitly determining the naive height constants for Jacobians of hyperelliptic curves. For genus > 1, it is impractical to apply Hilbert’s Nullstellensatz directly to the defining equations of the duplication law; we indicate how this technical difficulty can be overcome by use of isogenies. The height constants are computed in detail for the Jacobian of an arbitrar...

Capacity Theory and Arithmetic Intersection Theory

We show that the sectional capacity of an adelic subset of a projective variety over a number field is a quasi-canonical limit of arithmetic top self-intersection numbers, and we establish the functorial properties of extremal plurisubharmonic Green’s functions. We also present a conjecture that the sectional capacity should be a top selfintersection number in an appropriate adelic arithmetic i...

On Higher Arithmetic Intersection Theory

Computing Néron-tate Heights of Points on Hyperelliptic Jacobians

It was shown by Faltings ([Fal84]) and Hriljac ([Hri85]) that the Néron-Tate height of a point on the Jacobian of a curve can be expressed as the self-intersection of a corresponding divisor on a regular model of the curve. We make this explicit and use it to give an algorithm for computing Néron-Tate heights on Jacobians of hyperelliptic curves. To demonstrate the practicality of our algorithm...