Cartier operator

In mathematics, the Hasse–Witt matrix H of a non-singular algebraic curve C over a finite field F is the matrix of the Frobenius mapping (p-th power mapping where F has q elements, q a power of the prime number p) with respect to a basis for the differentials of the first kind. It is a g × g matrix where C has genus g. The rank of the Hasse–Witt matrix is the Hasse or Hasse–Witt invariant.

This definition, as given in the introduction, is natural in classical terms, and is due to Helmut Hasse and Ernst Witt (1936). It provides a solution to the question of the p-rank of the Jacobian variety J of C; the p-rank is bounded by the rank of H, specifically it is the rank of the Frobenius mapping composed with itself g times. It is also a definition that is in principle algorithmic. There has been substantial recent interest in this as of practical application to cryptography, in the case of C a hyperelliptic curve. The curve C is superspecial if H = 0.

That definition needs a couple of caveats, at least. Firstly, there is a convention about Frobenius mappings, and under the modern understanding what is required for H is the transpose of Frobenius (see arithmetic and geometric Frobenius for more discussion). Secondly, the Frobenius mapping is not F-linear; it is linear over the prime field Z/pZ in F. Therefore the matrix can be written down but does not represent a linear mapping in the straightforward sense.

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