Skip to main content

All Questions

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
7 votes
1 answer
718 views

Ways to characterize supersingular primes?

I've read the definition, and it basically says p is a supersingular prime iff the fundamental domain of a group generated by \Gamma(p) and a matrix ((0, 1), (-p, 0)) is rational. And there's a ...
Ilya Nikokoshev's user avatar
79 votes
12 answers
13k views

Is there a high-concept explanation for why characteristic 2 is special?

The structure of the multiplicative groups of $\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}$ or of $\mathbb{Z}_p$ is the same for odd primes, but not for $2.$ Quadratic reciprocity has a uniform statement for odd primes, ...
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
27 votes
7 answers
6k views

Etale covers of the affine line

In characteristic p there are nontrivial etale covers of the affine line, such as those obtained by adjoining solutions to x^2 + x + f(t) = 0 for f(t) in k[t]. Using an etale cohomology computation ...
Tyler Lawson's user avatar
  • 52.7k
32 votes
4 answers
3k views

Spectrum of the Grothendieck ring of varieties

Here's a problem that may ultimately require just simple algebraic-geometry skills to be solved, or perhaps it's very deep and will never be solved at all. From the comments, some literature and my ...
Ilya Nikokoshev's user avatar
20 votes
5 answers
4k views

Equivalent statements of the Riemann hypothesis in the Weil conjectures

In the cohomological incarnation, the Riemann hypothesis part of the Weil conjectures for a smooth proper scheme of finite type over a finite field with $q$ elements says that: the eigenvalues of ...
Brandon Levin's user avatar
18 votes
3 answers
2k views

Is there an example of a variety over the complex numbers with no embedding into a smooth variety?

Is there an example of a variety over the complex numbers with no embedding into a smooth variety?
David Zureick-Brown's user avatar
16 votes
2 answers
3k views

Is there an example of a formally smooth morphism which is not smooth?

A morphism of schemes is formally smooth and locally of finite presentation iff it is smooth. What happens if we drop the finitely presented hypothesis? Of course, locally of finite presentation is ...
David Zureick-Brown's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
531 views

Can one check formal smoothness using only one-variable Artin rings?

Let $f:X\rightarrow Y$ be a morphism of schemes over a field $k$. Can one check that $f$ is formally smooth using only Artin rings of the form $k^{\prime}\left[t\right]/t^{n}$, where $k^{\prime}$ is ...
David Zureick-Brown's user avatar
37 votes
4 answers
12k views

Finite extension of fields with no primitive element

What is an example of a finite field extension which is not generated by a single element? Background: A finite field extension E of F is generated by a primitive element if and only if there are a ...
Anton Geraschenko's user avatar

1
20 21 22 23
24