We develop the theory of Abelian functions associated with algebraic curves. The growth in computer power and the advancement of efficient symbolic computation techniques have allowed for recent progress in this area. In this paper we focus on the genus three cases, comparing the two canonical classes of hyperelliptic and trigonal curves. We present new addition formulae, derive bases for the spaces of Abelian functions and discuss the differential equations such functions satisfy.

Supplementary materials are available with this article.

Let k be a field of characteristic other than 2. There can be an obstruction to a principally polarized abelian threefold (A,a) over k, which is a Jacobian over , being a Jacobian over k; this can be computed in terms of the rationality of the square root of the value of a certain Siegel modular form. We show how to do this explicitly for principally polarized abelian threefolds which are the third power of an elliptic curve with complex multiplication. We use our numerical results to prove or refute the existence of some optimal curves of genus 3.

In this paper, we study bounds for the number of rational points on twists $C'$ of a fixed curve $C$ over a number field ${\mathcal K}$, under the condition that the group of ${\mathcal K}$-rational points on the Jacobian $J'$ of $C'$ has rank smaller than the genus of $C'$. The main result is that with some explicitly given finitely many possible exceptions, we have a bound of the form $2r + c$, where $r$ is the rank of $J'({\mathcal K})$ and $c$ is a constant depending on $C$. For the proof, we use a refinement of the method of Chabauty–Coleman: the main new ingredient is to use it for an extension field of ${\mathcal K}_v$, where $v$ is a place of bad reduction for $C'$.

We use the $A_{\infty}$-formalism to study variation in cohomology spaces under formal deformations of coherent sheaves on projective varieties. As an application we describe formal neighborhoods of some singular points in twisted Brill–Noether loci in the moduli spaces of vector bundles on a curve. Another application is a computation of the Fourier–Mukai transform of some natural line bundles on symmetric powers of a curve.