Explicit computations of Serre's obstruction for genus 3 curves and application to optimal curves

Abstract

Let k be a field of characteristic different from 2. There can be an obstruction for an indecomposable principally polarized abelian threefold (A,a) over k to be a Jacobian over k. It 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 numeric results to prove or refute the existence of some optimal curves of genus 3.