This dissertation is a collection of four research articles devoted tothe study of Kummer theory for commutative algebraic groups. In numbertheory, Kummer theory refers to the study of field... Show moreThis dissertation is a collection of four research articles devoted tothe study of Kummer theory for commutative algebraic groups. In numbertheory, Kummer theory refers to the study of field extensions generatedby n-th roots of some base field. Its generalization to commutativealgebraic groups involves fields generated by the division points of afixed algebraic group, such as an elliptic curve or a higher dimensionalabelian variety. Of particular interest in this dissertation is the degreeof such field extensions. In the first two chapter, classical results forelliptic curves are improved by providing explicitly computable bounds anduniform and explicit bounds over the field of rational numbers. In thelast two chapters a general framework for the study of similar problemsis developed. Show less
This thesis is about arithmetic, analytic and algorithmic aspects of modular curves and modular forms. The arithmetic and analytic aspects are linked by the viewpoint that modular curves are... Show moreThis thesis is about arithmetic, analytic and algorithmic aspects of modular curves and modular forms. The arithmetic and analytic aspects are linked by the viewpoint that modular curves are examples of arithmetic surfaces. Therefore, Arakelov theory (intersection theory on arithmetic surfaces) occupies a prominent place in this thesis. Apart from this, a substantial part of it is devoted to studying modular curves over finite fields, and their Jacobian varieties, from an algorithmic viewpoint. The end product of this thesis is an algorithm for computing modular Galois representations. These are certain two-dimensional representations of the absolute Galois group of the rational numbers that are attached to Hecke eigenforms over finite fields. The running time of our algorithm is (under minor restrictions) polynomial in the length of the input. This main result is a generalisation of that of work of Jean-Marc Couveignes, Bas Edixhoven et al. Several intermediate results are developed in sufficient generality to make them of interest to the study of modular curves and modular forms in a wider sense. Show less