On arithmetic intersection numbers on self-products of curves

Abstract

We give a close formula for the N\'eron-Tate height of tautological integral cycles on Jacobians of curves over number fields as well as a new lower bound for the arithmetic self-intersection number $\hat{\omega}^2$ of the dualizing sheaf of a curve in terms of Zhang's invariant $\varphi$. As an application, we obtain an effective Bogomolov-type result for the tautological cycles. We deduce these results from a more general combinatorial computation of arithmetic intersection numbers of adelic line bundles on higher self-products of curves, which are linear combinations of pullbacks of line bundles on the curve and the diagonal bundle.