An arithmetic intersection for squares of elliptic curves with complex multiplication

Abstract

Let $C$ be a genus $2$ curve with Jacobian isomorphic to the square of an elliptic curve with complex multiplication by a maximal order in an imaginary quadratic field of discriminant $-d<0$. We show that if the stable model of $C$ has bad reduction over a prime $p$ then $p \leq d/4$. We give an algorithm to compute the set of such $p$ using the so-called refined Humbert invariant introduced by Kani. Using results from Kudla-Rapoport and the formula of Gross-Keating, we compute for each of these primes $p$ its exponent in the discriminant of the stable model of $C$. We conclude with some explicit computations for $d<100$ and compare our results with an unpublished formula by the third author.