Let k be the algebraic closure of a finite field of odd characteristic p, and X a smooth projective scheme over the Witt ring W (k) which is geometrically connected in characteristic zero. We introduce the notion of Higgs-de Rham flow1 and prove that the category of periodic Higgs-de Rham flows over X/W(k) is equivalent to the category of Fontaine modules, hence further equivalent to the category of crystalline representations of the e ́tale fundamental group π_1(X_K ) of the generic fiber of X, after Fontaine-Laffaille and Faltings, where K is the fraction field of W(k). Moreover, we prove that every semistable Higgs bundle over the special fiber X_k of X of rank ≤ p initiates a semistable Higgs–de Rham flow and thus those of rank ≤ p − 1 with trivial Chern classes induce k-representations of π_1(X_K ). A fundamental construction in this paper is the inverse Cartier transform over a truncated Witt ring. In characteristic p, it was constructed by Ogus–Vologodsky in the nonabelian Hodge theory in positive characteristic; in the affine local case, our construction is related to the local Ogus–Vologodsky correspondence of Shiho.

We derive an asymptotic formula which counts the number of abelian extensions of prime degrees over rational function fields. Specifically, let l be a rational prime and K a rational function field F_q(t) with l\nmid q. Let Discf (F/K) denote the finite discriminant of F over K. Denote the number of abelian l-extensions F/K with deg (Discf (F/K)) = (l − 1)αn by a_l(n), where α = α(q, l) is the order of q in the multiplicative group (Z/lZ)^\times. We give a explicit asymptotic formula for a_l(n). In the case of cubic extensions with q ≡ 2 (mod 3), our formula gives an exact analogue of Cohn’s classical formula.

No abstract uploaded!

No abstract uploaded!

No abstract uploaded!