Arithmetic invariant theory and 2-descent for plane quartic curves

29 Jul 2016 · Thorne Jack A. ·

Given a smooth plane quartic curve C over a field k of characteristic 0, with Jacobian variety J, and a marked rational point P of C(k), we construct a reductive group G and a G-variety X, together with an injection J(k)/2J(k) -> G(k)\X(k). We do this using the Mumford theta group of J, and a construction of Lurie which passes from Heisenberg groups to Lie algebras.