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Largely I want to know as to how does one say anything about the hyperellipticity or the genus of the Riemann surface by looking at the algebraic curve and its singularities.


  • To give a specific example, what is the meaning of the statement that, "a curve of genus 2 can be expressed as a fourth degree plane curve possessing one double point" ?

Does this mean that any Riemann surface of genus 2 is a normalization of a fourth degree algebraic curve in $\mathbb{P}^2$ with one double point?

In general the proof says that any compact hyperelliptic Riemann surface of genus $g$ is a normalization of a an algebraic curve of degree $2g+2$ of the form $y^2 = \prod _{i = 1}^{2g+2} (x-a_i)$

So I would have naively thought that a genus $2$ Riemann surface (which is always hyperelliptic) will need a $2\times 2 +2 = 6$ degree algebraic curve. Hence I am not clear as to what to read of the quoted statement. Is something very special happening for genus $2$? Is the general theorem not a sharp statement?

  • The general statement seems to tell me that the $a_i$ being distinct guarantees the smoothness of the algebraic curve except may be at the points at infinity. Now if there is a lower degree curve that can equally well represent the genus $2$ surface then is that necessarily going to be a curve with singularities?

  • If the general statement is not a sharp statement and one can in cases do with lower degree curves than $2g+2$ then how does one derive the genus of the Riemann surface by looking at the algebraic curve and may be its singularities. Is there a "generalized" genus formula that works always?

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    I recommend the book Riemann Surfaces by Farkas and Kra, it has a lot of the answers to your questions. If that is too advanced, Miranda's book answers some of these questions, but not as well IMO2011-11-25
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    @GottfriedLeibniz I currently have access to only the book on Riemann surfaces by Griffiths. Thats the book that I am reading. It would be great if you can sketch the argument or give enough hints on these matters on which I can build on.2011-11-25

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