A Lefschetz Hyperplane Theorem for non-Archimedean Jacobians

Abstract: We establish a Lefschetz hyperplane theorem for the Berkovich analytifications of Jacobians of curves over an algebraically closed non-Archimedean field. Let $J$ be the Jacobian of a curve $X$, and let $W_d \subset J$ be the locus of effective divisor classes of degree $d$. We show that the pair $(J^{an},W_d^{an})$ is $d$-connected, and thus in particular the inclusion of the analytification of the theta divisor $\Theta^{an}$ into $J^{an}$ satisfies a Lefschetz hyperplane theorem for $\mathbb{Z}$-cohomology groups and homotopy groups. A key ingredient in our proof is a generalization, over arbitrary characteristics and allowing arbitrary singularities on the base, of a result of Brown and Foster for the homotopy type of analytic projective bundles.