<p>This thesis surveys the issue of finding rational points on algebraic curves over finite fields. Since Goppa's construction of algebraic geometric codes, there has been great interest in finding curves with many rational points. Here we explain the main tools for finding rational points on a curve over a nite eld and provide the necessary background on ring and field theory. Four different articles are analyzed, the first of these articles gives a complete set of table showing the numbers of rational points for curves with genus up to 50. The other articles provide interesting constructions of covering curves: covers by the Hemitian curve, Kummer extensions and Artin-Schreier extensions. With these articles the great difficulty of finding explicit equations for curves with many rational points is overcome. With the method given by Arnaldo García in [6] we have been able to nd examples that can be used to define the lower bounds for the corresponding entries in the tables given in http: //wins.uva.nl/~geer, which to the time of writing this Thesis appear as "no information available". In fact, as the curves found are maximal, these entries no longer need a bound, they can be given by a unique entry, since the exact value of N_q(g) is now known.</p><p>At the end of the thesis an outline of the construction of Goppa codes is given and the NXL and XNL codes are presented.</p><p> </p>

This thesis surveys the issue of finding rational points on algebraic curves over finite fields. Since Goppa's construction of algebraic geometric codes, there has been great interest in finding curves with many rational points. Here we explain the main tools for finding rational points on a curve over a nite eld and provide the necessary background on ring and field theory. Four different articles are analyzed, the first of these articles gives a complete set of table showing the numbers of rational points for curves with genus up to 50. The other articles provide interesting constructions of covering curves: covers by the Hemitian curve, Kummer extensions and Artin-Schreier extensions. With these articles the great difficulty of finding explicit equations for curves with many rational points is overcome. With the method given by Arnaldo García in [6] we have been able to nd examples that can be used to define the lower bounds for the corresponding entries in the tables given in http: //wins.uva.nl/~geer, which to the time of writing this Thesis appear as "no information available". In fact, as the curves found are maximal, these entries no longer need a bound, they can be given by a unique entry, since the exact value of Nq(g) is now known. At the end of the thesis an outline of the construction of Goppa codes is given and the NXL and XNL codes are presented.

The objects studied in this thesis are families of cycles on schemes. A space — the Chow variety — parameterizing effective equidimensional cycles was constructed by Chow and van der Waerden in the first half of the twentieth century. Even though cycles are simple objects, the Chow variety is a rather intractable object. In particular, a good functorial description of this space is missing. Consequently, descriptions of the corresponding families and the infinitesimal structure are incomplete. Moreover, the Chow variety is not intrinsic but has the unpleasant property that it depends on a given projective embedding. A main objective of this thesis is to construct a closely related space which has a good functorial description. This is partly accomplished in the last paper. The first three papers are concerned with families of zero-cycles. In the first paper, a functor parameterizing zero-cycles is defined and it is shown that this functor is represented by a scheme — the scheme of divided powers. This scheme is closely related to the symmetric product. In fact, the scheme of divided powers and the symmetric product coincide in many situations. In the second paper, several aspects of the scheme of divided powers are discussed. In particular, a universal family is constructed. A different description of the families as multi-morphisms is also given. Finally, the set of k-points of the scheme of divided powers is described. Somewhat surprisingly, cycles with certain rational coefficients are included in this description in positive characteristic. The third paper explains the relation between the Hilbert scheme, the Chow scheme, the symmetric product and the scheme of divided powers. It is shown that the last three schemes coincide as topological spaces and that all four schemes are isomorphic outside the degeneracy locus. The last paper gives a definition of families of cycles of arbitrary dimension and a corresponding Chow functor. In characteristic zero, this functor agrees with the functors of Barlet, Guerra, Kollár and Suslin-Voevodsky when these are defined. There is also a monomorphism from Angéniol's functor to the Chow functor which is an isomorphism in many instances. It is also confirmed that the morphism from the Hilbert functor to the Chow functor is an isomorphism over the locus parameterizing normal subschemes and a local immersion over the locus parameterizing reduced subschemes — at least in characteristic zero. / QC 20100908

Polynomial functors were introduced by Professors Eilenberg and Mac Lane in 1954, who used them to study certain homology rings. Strict polynomial functors were invented by Professors Friedlander and Suslin in 1997, in order to develop the theory of group schemes. The first real investigation of their intrinsic properties was performed in 1988, when Professor Pirashvili showed that polynomial functors are equivalent to modules over a certain ring. A similar study was conducted on strict polynomial functors in 2003 by Dr. Salomonsson in his doctoral thesis. A radically different method of attack was initiated by Dr. Dreckman and Professors Pirashvili, Franjou, and Baues in the year 2000. Their approach was to combinatorially encode polynomial functors, and utilised for this purpose the category of sets and surjections. Dr. Salomonsson would later repeat the feat for strict polynomial functors, employing instead the category of multi-sets. This thesis proposes the following: 1:o. To generalise the notion of polynomial functor to more general base rings than Z, so that it smoothly agree with the existing definition of strict polynomial functor, allowing for easy comparison. This results in the definition of numerical functors. 2:o. To make an extensive study of numerical maps of modules, to see how they fit into Professor Roby's framework of strict polynomial maps. 3:o. To conduct a survey of numerical rings. 4:o. To develop the theories of numerical and strict polynomial functors so that they run in parallel. 5:o. To show how also numerical functors may be interpreted as modules over a certain ring. 6:o. To expound the theory of mazes, which will be seen to vastly generalise the category of surjections employed by Professor Pirashvili et al., since they turn out to encode, not only polynomial or numerical functors, but all module functors over any base ring. 7:o. To simplify Dr. Salomonsson's construction involving multi-sets, making it more amenable to a comparison with mazes. 8:o. To prove comparison theorems interrelating numerical and strict polynomial functors. 9:o. And, finally, to indicate how polynomial functors may be used to extend the operad concept.

Denna bok riktar sig till gymnasieelever som vill fördjupa sig i ämnet RSA-kryptografi . RSA-kryptografi är en avancerad metod för att kommunicera med hemliga meddelanden och används flitigt inom t.ex. bankvärlden. När du handlar med ditt kort eller använder din e-legitimation används RSA-kryptogra fi för att allt du gör ska vara skyddat och säkert. Vid stora transaktioner mellan olika banker används också RSA-kryptogra fi för att både den som betalar och den som får betalt ska vara säkra att allt går rätt till.Boken är uppdelad i fyra kapitel. Kapitel 3 och 4 är betydligt mer avancerade än kapitel 1 och 2. Kapitel 1 består mestadels av exempel och övningar som behandlar matematiken som krävs för att kunna utföra RSA-kryptogra fi med små tal. Kapitel 2 använder matematiken i kapitel 1 för att genom exempel och övingar metodiskt lära ut hur RSA-kryptogra fi med små tal går till. Kapitel 3 visar matematiken som ligger till grund för att RSA-kryptografi fungerar. Detta visas med hjälp av exempel, satser, förtydligade bevis samt några enstaka övningar. Kapitel 4 förklarar varför RSA-kryptografi är säkert och enkelt att använda. Primtalstester utgör det viktigaste ämnet i detta sista kapitel.