Arithmetic rank bounds for abelian varieties over function fields

Abstract: It follows from the Grothendieck-Ogg-Shafarevich formula that the rank of an abelian variety (with trivial trace) defined over the function field of a curve is bounded by a quantity which depends on the genus of the base curve and on bad reduction data. Using a function field version of classical $\ell$-descent techniques, we derive an arithmetic refinement of this bound, extending previous work of the second and third authors from elliptic curves to abelian varieties, and improving on their result in the case of elliptic curves. When the abelian variety is the Jacobian of a hyperelliptic curve, we produce a more explicit $2$-descent map. Then we apply this machinery to studying points on the Jacobians of certain genus $2$ curves over $k(t)$, where $k$ is some perfect base field of characteristic not $2$.