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# An Auger test of the Cen A model of highest energy cosmic rays

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## Abstract

If, as recently proposed by Farrar and Piran, Cen A is the source of cosmic rays detected above the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz’min cutoff, neutrons are $`140`$ more probable than protons to be observed along its line of sight. This is because the proton flux is rendered nearly isotropic by $`𝒪(\mu `$G) intergalactic magnetic fields. With the anticipated aperture of the Southern Auger Observatory, one may expect on the order of 2 neutron events/year above $`10^{20}`$ eV in the line of sight of Cen A.

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The energy spectrum of cosmic rays (CRs) is well fitted by power laws with increasing index for energies above $`4\times 10^{15}`$ eV (the “knee”) flattening again above $`5\times 10^{18}`$ eV (the “ankle”), yielding the overall shape of a leg. Over the last third of the century, ingenious installations with large effective areas and long exposure times—needed to overcome the steep falling flux—have raised the tail of the spectrum up to an energy of $`3\times 10^{20}`$ eV, with no evidence that the highest energy recorded thus far is Nature’s upper limit . The origin of these extraordinarily energetic particles continues to present a major enigma to high energy physics .

The main problem posed by the detection of CRs of such energy (if nucleons, gammas, and/or nuclei) is energy degradation through inelastic collisions with the universal radiation fields permeating the universe. Therefore, if the CR sources are all at cosmological distances, the observed spectrum must virtually end with the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz’min (GZK) cutoff at $`E8\times 10^{19}`$ eV . The spectral cutoff is less sharp for nearby sources (within 50 Mpc or so). The arrival directions of the trans-GZK events are distributed widely over the sky, with no plausible counterparts (such as sources in the Galactic Plane or in the Local Supercluster). Furthermore, the data are consistent with an isotropic distribution of sources in sharp constrast to the anisotropic distribution of light within 50 Mpc . The difficulties encountered by conventional acceleration mechanisms in accelerating particles to the highest observed energies have motivated suggestions that the underlying production mechanism could be of non-acceleration nature. Namely, charged and neutral primaries, mainly light mesons (pions) together with a small fraction (3%) of nucleons, might be produced at extremely high energy by decay of supermassive elementary $`X`$ particles ($`m_X10^{22}10^{28}`$ eV) . However, if this were the case, the observed spectrum should be dominated by gamma rays and neutrinos, in contrast to current observation ! Alternative explanations involve undiscovered neutral hadrons with masses above a few GeV , neutrinos producing nucleons and photons via resonant $`Z`$-production with the relic neutrino background , or else neutrinos attaining cross sections in the millibarn range above the electroweak scale . A controversial correlation between the arrival direction of CRs above $`10^{20}`$ eV and high redshift compact radio quasars seems to support these scenarios .

Over the last few years, it has become evident that the observed near-isotropy of arrival directions can be easily explained if even the highest energy cosmic rays propagate diffusively, camouflaging a unique source only a few Mpc away . Within this framework, the particles experience large deflections through randomly oriented patches of strong magnetic fields $`𝒪(\mu `$G) . Recently, Farrar and Piran (FP)  noted that an extragalactic magnetic field of $`0.3\mu `$G would bend CR paths sufficiently, allowing one to trace back trans-GZK orbits from the Earth’s northern-hemisphere to the southern radio galaxy Cen A. Moreover, they show that the flux of Cen A at $`10^{19}`$ eV (at Earth) is comparable to that of all other sources in the universe, and assuming a diffuse propagation of particles above this energy they predict a CR anisotropy of order 7% (or less). Both estimates strongly support the single-source hypothesis. If this is the case, and the absence of the GZK cutoff is a reflection of our coincidental position near Cen A ($`d3.4`$ Mpc), it must be that the emission of uncharged particles from Cen A should render an enhancement of the CR flux in the southern hemisphere.

Cen A is a complex Fanaroff-Riley (FR) I  radio-loud source ($`l310^{}`$, $`b20^{}`$) identified at optical frequencies with the galaxy NGC 5128 . The radio morphology is intricate with large non-thermal radio lobes. In particular, the structure of the northern middle lobe resembles the “hot spots” which exist at the extremities of FR-II galaxies , although for Cen A the brightness contrast (hot spot to lobe) is not as extreme as in e.g. Cyg A . The energetics of acceleration in hot spots were discussed in . The criteria were applied in  to show the plausibility of attaining trans-GZK energies in the hot spot of Cen A. Moreover, EGRET measurements  of the gamma ray flux for energies $`>100`$ MeV allow an estimate $`L_\gamma 10^{41}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ for the source . This value of $`L_\gamma `$ is consistent with an earlier observation in the TeV-range during a period of elevated activity , and is considerably smaller than the estimated bolometric luminosity $`L_{\mathrm{bol}}10^{43}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$.

CR “lore” convinces us that the TeV $`\gamma `$-ray emission is a result of synchrotron radiation of electrons or protons of still higher energy . Strictly speaking, the observed $`\gamma `$-radiation is related to: (i) the development of pairs cascades triggered by secondary photopion products that cool instantaneously via synchrotron radiation (ii) the synchrotron radiation of protons itself that becomes a very effective channel to produce high energy $`\gamma `$-rays above $`10^{19}`$ eV. There are plausible physical arguments  as well as some observational reasons  to believe that when proton acceleration is being limited by energy losses, the CR luminosity $`L_{\mathrm{CR}}L_\gamma `$. The low ratio $`L_\gamma /L_{\mathrm{bol}}`$ thus leads us to assume that both ultra high energy CR and $`\gamma `$ production take place in the lobes with the bulk of the softer radiation coming from the core.

Following FP we introduce $`ϵ`$, the efficiency of ultra high energy CR production compared to high energy $`\gamma `$ production—from the above, we expect $`ϵ1.`$ Using equal power per decade over the interval $`1\times 10^{19}\mathrm{eV}<E<4\times 10^{20}\mathrm{eV}`$, we estimate a source luminosity

$$\frac{E^2dN_0^{p+n}}{dEdt}1.7ϵL_{41}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}^{52}\mathrm{eV}/\mathrm{s}$$
(1)
where $`L_{41}`$ luminosity of Cen A$`/10^{41}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ and the subscript “0” refers to quantities at the source.

Ignoring energy losses for the moment, the density of protons at the present time $`t`$ of energy $`E`$ at a distance $`r`$ from Cen A (assumed to be continuously emitting at a constant spectral rate $`dN_0^{p+n}/dEdt`$ from time $`t_{\mathrm{on}}`$ until the present) is

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dn(r,t)}{dE}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{dN_0^{p+n}}{dEdt}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{[4\pi D(E)]^{3/2}}}{\displaystyle _{t_{\mathrm{on}}}^t}𝑑t^{}{\displaystyle \frac{e^{r^2/4D(tt^{})}}{(tt^{})^{3/2}}}`$ (2)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{dN_0^{p+n}}{dEdt}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi D(E)r}}I(x),`$ (3)
where $`D(E)`$ stands for the diffusion coefficient, $`x=4DT_{\mathrm{on}}/r^2T_{\mathrm{on}}/\tau _D`$, $`T_{\mathrm{on}}=tt_{\mathrm{on}},`$ and

$$I(x)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{\pi }}_{1/x}^{\mathrm{}}\frac{du}{\sqrt{u}}e^u.$$
(4)
In each “scatter”, the diffusion coefficient describes an independent angular deviation of particle trajectories whose magnitude depends on the Larmor radius $`R_\mathrm{L}=100E_{20}/B_{\mu \mathrm{G}}`$ kpc, where $`E_{20}=E/10^{20}\mathrm{eV}`$, $`B_{\mu \mathrm{G}}=B/(1\mu \mathrm{G}).`$ Extragalactic magnetic field strengths and coherence lengths are not well established, but it may be plausible to assume a Kolmogorov form for the turbulent magnetic field power spectrum with coherent directions on scales of 0.5 - 1 Mpc. One can then naïvely estimate that protons with energies $`E<10^{21}\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{Mpc}}B_{\mu \mathrm{G}}`$ eV remain trapped inside magnetic subdomains of size $`\mathrm{}`$, attaining efficient diffusion when the wave number of the associated Alfvén wave is equal to the gyroradius of the particle. With a Kolmogorov spectrum this gives for a diffusion coefficient

$$D(E)0.048\left(\frac{E_{20}\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{Mpc}}^2}{B_{\mu \mathrm{G}}}\right)^{1/3}\mathrm{Mpc}^2/\mathrm{Myr}.$$
(5)
Here, $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{Mpc}}=\mathrm{}/(1\mathrm{Mpc}).`$ For $`T_{\mathrm{on}}\mathrm{}`$, the density approaches its time-independent equilibrium value $`n_{\mathrm{eq}}`$, while for $`T_{\mathrm{on}}=\tau _D=r^2/4D`$, $`n/n_{\mathrm{eq}}=0.16`$.

A word about the validity of the diffusive approximation: one may easily check that for $`E=10^{19}`$ eV, $`B=0.5\mu `$G, $`\mathrm{}=0.5`$ Mpc, the diffusive distance traveled $`c\tau _D=50`$ Mpc $`d=3.4`$ Mpc. For higher energies, the validity of the diffusive approach must be checked on a case-by case basis . For these purposes, in the case of a continuously emitting source, the definition of a diffusion time is somewhat arbitrary. We will use $`\tau _D,`$ a choice consistent with simulations .

To further constrain the parameters of the model, we evaluate the energy-weighted approximately isotropic proton flux at $`1.5\times 10^{19}`$ eV, which lies in the center of the flat “low energy” region  of the spectrum:

$`E^3J_p(E)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{Ec}{(4\pi )^2dD(E)}}{\displaystyle \frac{E^2dN_0^{p+n}}{dEdt}}I(t/\tau _D)`$ (6)
$``$ $`7.6\times 10^{24}ϵL_{41}I\mathrm{eV}^2\mathrm{m}^2\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{sr}^1.`$ (7)
In the second line of the equation, we have used the values of $`B\text{and}\mathrm{}`$ as given in the previous paragraph. We fix $`ϵL_{41}I=0.40`$, after comparing Eq.(7) to the observed CR-flux: $`E^3J_{\mathrm{obs}}(E)=10^{24.5}`$ eV2 m-2 s-1 sr-1 . With $`ϵL_{41}1,`$ this determines $`I0.40,`$ and consequently the required age of the source $`T_{\mathrm{on}}`$ to be about 400 Myr . To maintain flux at the “ankle” for the same $`T_{\mathrm{on}}`$, we require an approximate doubling of $`L_{\mathrm{CR}}`$ at $`5\times 10^{18}`$ eV. Because of the larger diffusive time delay at this energy, this translates into an increased luminosity in the early phase of Cen A. The associated synchrotron photons are emitted at energies $`<30`$ MeV. The increase in radiation luminosity in this region is not inconsistent with the flattening of the spectrum observed at lower energies.

In current models of describing cosmic ray acceleration, the principal mechanisms for energy loss are synchrotron radiation and photopion processes . If the radiation energy density of the source is sufficiently high, photopion production leads to copious neutron flux (that can readily escape the system) and associated degradation of the proton spectrum. This occurs only near the maximum proton energy. It is reasonable to assume that the ambient photon density of Cen A is sufficiently high  so that near the end of the spectrum the efficiency of neutron production $`ϵ_n`$ becomes comparable to the proton channel $`ϵ_p`$. We take for granted that the proton spectrum cuts off at $`4\times 10^{20}`$ eV. Consequently, because of the leading particle effect , we expect a cutoff in the neutron spectrum at approximately $`2\times 10^{20}`$ eV. We adopt an energy of $`1\times 10^{20}`$ eV as a lower cutoff on the neutron spectrum, and simplify the discussion by assuming that in the narrow interval $`E_{20}[1,2]`$ $`ϵ_nϵ_p.`$ The neutron spectrum observed at Earth is further narrowed because of decay en route. The decay length is $`\lambda (E)=0.9E_{20}\text{Mpc}`$ . Because of the exponential depletion, about 2% of the neutrons survive the trip at 1020 eV, and about 15% at $`2\times 10^{20}`$ eV. We note at this point that the increasing survival of neutrons at energies above $`1.5\times 10^{20}`$ eV has as a consequence of the Cen A model that the observed diffuse flux $`E^3J_{\mathrm{obs}}(E)`$ should begin to decrease at these energies (unless other factors contribute to an increase).

We may now estimate a signal-to-noise ratio for detection of neutron CRs in the southern hemisphere, say at Auger. If we assume circular pixel sizes with 2 diameters, the neutron events from Cen A will be collected in a pixel representing a solid angle $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }(\mathrm{CenA})10^3`$ sr. For Auger ($`S=3000`$ km2 detector with aperture 7000 km2 sr above $`10^{19}`$ eV), the event rate of (diffuse) protons coming from the direction of Cen A (say in a $`2^{}`$ angular cone) is found to be

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dN_p}{dt}}`$ $`=`$ $`S\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }(\mathrm{CenA}){\displaystyle _{E_1}^{E_2}}E^3J_p(E){\displaystyle \frac{dE}{E^3}}`$ (8)
$``$ $`S\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }(\mathrm{CenA})<E^3J_p(E)>{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2E_1^2}}`$ (9)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{0.014}{E_{1,20}^2}}\mathrm{events}/\mathrm{yr},`$ (10)
where we have assumed $`E^3J_p(E)`$ to be (approximately) constant up to at least $`E3\times 10^{20}`$ eV, in agreement with the observed isotropic flux in this region, $`E^3J_{\mathrm{obs}}(E)=10^{24.5\pm 0.2}\text{eV}^2\text{m}^2\text{s}^1\text{sr}^1`$ . The neutron rate

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dN_n}{dt}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{S}{4\pi d^2}}{\displaystyle _{E_1}^{E_2}}{\displaystyle \frac{dN_0^n}{dEdt}}e^{d/\lambda (E)}`$ (11)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{S}{4\pi d^2}}{\displaystyle _{E_1}^{E_2}}{\displaystyle \frac{E^2dN_0^n}{dEdt}}{\displaystyle \frac{dE}{E^2}}e^{d/\lambda (E)}`$ (12)
$`=`$ $`116ϵ_nL_{41}{\displaystyle _{E_{1,20}}^{E_{2,20}}}{\displaystyle \frac{dE_{20}}{E_{20}^2}}e^{d/\lambda (E)}\mathrm{events}/\mathrm{yr},`$ (13)
is potentially measurable. For $`E_{20}[1,2]`$ we expect

$$\frac{dN_n}{dt}4ϵ_nL_{41}\mathrm{events}/\mathrm{yr}$$
(14)
arriving from the Cen A direction of the sky. With $`ϵ_nL_{41}1/2,`$ this gives about 2 direct events per year, against the negligible background of Eq.(10). Thus, in a few years running (of Auger) the FP hypothesis of Cen A as the primary source of all trans-GZK CRs can be directly tested.

We now address the question of anisotropy. This can be found by computing the incoming current flux density $`Dn`$ as viewed by an observer on Earth, and one finds for a continuously-emitting source a distribution $`(1+\alpha \mathrm{cos}(\theta ))`$ about the direction of the source at angle $`\theta `$ to the zenith, where

$$\alpha =\frac{2D(E)}{cr}\frac{I^{}}{I}.$$
(15)
Here,

$$I^{}(x)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{\pi }}_{1/x}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑u\sqrt{u}e^u,$$
(16)
with $`x=T_{\mathrm{on}}/\tau _D`$, and $`I`$ was defined in Eq.(3). For our choices of $`B`$ and $`\mathrm{},`$ $`T_{\mathrm{on}}=400`$ Myr, we find for $`E=10^{19}`$ eV $`(E=10^{20}`$ eV) that $`\alpha =0.04(\alpha =0.07).`$

It should also be remarked that the neutrons that are able to decay will beget secondary proton diffusion fronts with asymmetry parameters given by

$$\alpha =\frac{2D(E)}{cr}\frac{I^{\prime \prime }}{I},$$
(17)
where

$`I^{\prime \prime }(x)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\sqrt{\pi }\kappa }}{\displaystyle _{1/x}^{\mathrm{}}}`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{du}{u^{3/2}}}`$ $`[((1\kappa )u+\frac{1}{2})e^{(1\kappa )^2u}`$ (18)
$``$ $`((1+\kappa )u+\frac{1}{2})e^{(1+\kappa )^2u}]`$ (19)
and $`\kappa =\lambda (E)/r,`$ $`\lambda (E)`$ being the neutron decay length given after Eq.(3). In spite of the complicated nature of Eq.(19), the results for $`\alpha `$ are very similar to the ones for the primary diffusion front given above.

All in all, the Southern Auger Observatory will be in a gifted position to explore Cen A, providing in few years of operation sufficient statistics to probe extragalactic magnetic fields below the present observational upper limit $`𝒪(\mu `$G). The potential detection of the neutrons at Auger can subsequently be validated by the larger aperture EUSO and OWL orbiting detectors. Additionally, if FP’s hypothesis is confirmed, it would constitute a robust evidence that all FR radiogalaxies produce extremely high energy CRs. Furthermore, our next-door radiogalaxy could provide a profitable arena for particle physics.

In closing, we wish to comment briefly on some published CR observations relevant to this work. A small excess of flux at $`10^{15}`$ eV (detected at the Buckland Park field station) that reached the Earth preferentially from the direction of Cen A could militate against FP’s hypothesis. At this energy the photon flux will be completely damped through interactions with the cosmic microwave background . Therefore, if CRs propagate diffusively one expects no deviation from isotropy on the (extragalactic) CR spectrum (except for a neutrino flux peaked along the line of sight). However, as far as we are aware, such anisotropy was not confirmed by the Sydney University Giant Air Shower Recorder (SUGAR) . Furthermore, the random arrival directions of the southern highest energy CRs seem to back up the above-outlined model.

We would like to thank Pasquale Blasi and Günter Sigl for some stimulating remarks concerning the diffuse propagation of cosmic rays. This work was partially supported by CONICET (LAA), the National Science Foundation (HG), and the U.S. Department of Energy (TJW)


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# Quaternionic pryms and Hodge classes

## 1. Quaternionic covers

### 1.1. Definitions.

A definite quaternion algebra $`F`$ over $`𝐐`$ is a skew field with center $`𝐐`$, of dimension 4 over $`𝐐`$, such that $`F_𝐐𝐑`$ is isomorphic to the skew field of Hamilton’s quaternions. It is well known that one can find elements $`i,j,kF`$ such that

$$F=𝐐+𝐐i+𝐐j+𝐐k,i^2=r,j^2=s,ij=ji=k,\mathrm{with}r,s𝐐_{<0}.$$

Such a quaternion algebra has a canonical (anti-)involution, it acts as:

$$x=a+bi+cj+dk\overline{x}=abicjdk,\overline{xy}=\overline{y}\overline{x}.$$

The quaternion algebra over $`𝐐`$ with $`r=s=1`$ will be denoted by $`𝐇_𝐐`$. The quaternion group $`Q`$ is the following subgroup of order 8 of $`𝐇_𝐐^{}`$:

$$Q=\{\pm 1,\pm i,\pm j,\pm k\},(\pm i)^2=(\pm j)^2=(\pm k)^2=1,ij=ji=k.$$

### 1.2. Quaternionic covers.

Let $`_{g,Q}`$ be the moduli space of unramified Galois covers $`\stackrel{~}{C}C`$ of a genus $`g`$ curves $`C`$ with Galois group $`Q`$. A quaternionic cover $`\pi :\stackrel{~}{C}C`$ defines a normal subgroup $`N:=\pi _{}\pi _1(\stackrel{~}{C})`$ of $`\pi _1(C)`$ and $`\pi _1(C)/NQ`$. Conversely, a normal subgroup $`N`$ of $`\pi _1(C)`$ with $`\pi _1(C)/NQ`$ defines a quaternionic cover:

$$N\backslash C^{univ}C,$$

where $`C^{univ}`$ is the universal cover of $`C`$. Since there exist surjective homomorphisms $`\pi _1(C)Q`$, there is a surjective map $`_{g,Q}_g`$ where $`_g`$ is the moduli space of genus $`g`$ curves. This map is finite since there the number of surjective homomorphisms $`\pi _1(C)Q`$ is finite (in fact, $`\pi _1(C)`$ is finitely generated).

Proposition 1.4 shows that, up to automorphisms of $`\pi _1(C)`$, there is only one subgroup defining a quaternionic cover. Standard monodromy arguments then imply that the moduli space $`_{g,Q}`$ is irreducible.

### 1.3.

The fundamental group of a genus $`g`$ curve is the quotient of the free group $`F_{2g}`$ generated by $`a_1,\mathrm{},a_g`$, $`b_1,\mathrm{},b_g`$ by the normal subgroup generated by the relation $`R=[a_1,b_1]\mathrm{}[a_g,b_g]`$. Let $`A_g`$ be the subgroup of $`Aut(F_{2g})`$ of automorphisms which map $`R`$ to a conjugate of itself, there is a natural map $`A_gAut(\pi _1(C))`$. The mapping class group $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_g`$ is the quotient of $`A_g`$ by inner automorphisms of $`\pi _1(C)`$.

### 1.4. Proposition.

Let $`N\pi _1(C)`$ be a normal subgroup such that $`\pi _1(C)/NQ`$. Then there exists an automorphism $`\psi A_g`$ such that

$$N=\mathrm{ker}(f\psi :\pi _1(C)Q)$$

with $`f`$ the homomorphism:

$$f:\pi _1(C)Qf(\alpha _{g1})=i,f(\alpha _g)=j,f(\alpha _i)=f(\beta _j)=1$$

for all $`i`$ and $`j`$ with $`1ig2`$ and $`1jg`$ where $`\alpha _j`$, $`\beta _j`$ are generators of $`\pi _1(C)`$ satisfying $`[\alpha _1,\beta _1]\mathrm{}[\alpha _g,\beta _g]=e`$.

Proof. The composition

$$\pi _1(C)\pi _1(C)/NQQ/\{\pm 1\}(𝐙/2𝐙)^2$$

factors over $`H_1(C,𝐙/2𝐙)`$ and the group $`A_g`$ maps onto the symplectic group (w.r.t. the intersection form) of this $`𝐅_2`$-vector space. Therefore there is a $`\psi A_g`$ such that $`N=\mathrm{ker}(g\psi )`$ with a homomorphism $`g:\pi _1(C)Q`$ given by $`g(\alpha _g)=j`$ and either $`g(\alpha _{g1})=i`$ (and $`g`$ maps the other generators to $`\{\pm 1\}`$) or $`g(\beta _g)=i`$ (and $`g`$ maps the other generators to $`\{\pm 1\}`$). However, if $`g(\beta _g)=i`$ then $`[\alpha _g,\beta _g]=1`$ whereas $`[\alpha _i,\beta _i]=1`$ for $`i<g`$, which contradicts the relation $`R`$. Therefore $`g(\alpha _{g1})=i`$.

It remains to show that, using elements of $`A_g`$, we may assume that $`g`$ maps the other generators to $`+1`$. If $`g(\beta _g)=1`$, then we apply the automorphism $`\beta _g\beta _g\alpha _g^2`$ (and fixing the other generators), similarly if $`g(\beta _{g1})=1`$.

If for $`i<g1`$ we have $`g(\alpha _i)=1`$ or $`g(\beta _i)=1`$, we use the automorphism in $`A_g`$ which fixes all generators except $`\alpha _i`$ which is mapped to $`\alpha _i\alpha _i\beta _i`$ and/or the automorphism in $`A_g`$ which fixes all generators except $`\beta _i`$ which is mapped to $`\beta _i\alpha _i`$ to obtain a homomorphism which maps $`\alpha _i1`$, $`\beta _i1`$.

Thus we are reduced to the case of a homomorphism $`f:\pi _1(C)Q`$ which is trivial on the $`\beta _i`$, maps the $`\alpha _i`$ to $`\pm 1`$ for $`i<g1`$ and has $`f(\alpha _{g1})=i`$ and $`f(\alpha _g)=j`$. For an integer $`k`$ we define $`\psi _k`$ as follows:

$$\psi _k:\{\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill \alpha _i& & \alpha _{k+1}\alpha _i\alpha _{k+1}^1\hfill \\ \hfill \beta _i& & \alpha _{k+1}\beta _i\alpha _{k+1}^1\hfill \end{array}\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill \alpha _k& & \alpha _{k+1}\alpha _k\hfill \\ \hfill \beta _k& & \beta _k\hfill \end{array}\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill \alpha _{k+1}& & \beta _k\alpha _{k+1}\beta _k^1\hfill \\ \hfill \beta _{k+1}& & \alpha _{k+1}\beta _{k+1}\alpha _{k+1}^1\beta _k^1\hfill \end{array}$$

where $`1ig`$ and $`ik,k+1`$. It is easy to see that $`\psi _k`$ is an automorphism of the free group generated by the $`\alpha _j`$ and $`\beta _j`$, and since $`\psi _k([\alpha _i,\beta _i])=\alpha _{k+1}[\alpha _i,\beta _i]\alpha _{k+1}^1`$ and

$$\psi _k([\alpha _k,\beta _k])=\alpha _{k+1}[\alpha _k,\beta _k]\beta _k\alpha _{k+1}^1\beta _k^1,\psi _k([\alpha _{k+1},\beta _{k+1}])=\beta _k\alpha _{k+1}\beta _k^1[\alpha _{k+1},\beta _{k+1}]\alpha _{k+1}^1$$

it follows that $`\psi _k(R)=\alpha _{k+1}R\alpha _{k+1}^1`$, hence $`\psi _kA_g`$. Note that $`(f\psi _k)(\beta _i)=1`$ for all $`i`$ and $`k`$. Moreover, $`(f\psi _{g2}^2)(\alpha _{g2})=f(\alpha _{g2})`$ and $`f\psi _{g2}^2`$ has the same value as $`f`$ on the other generators. Similarly, for $`k<g2`$, we have $`(f\psi _k)(\alpha _k)=f(\alpha _k)f(\alpha _{k+1})`$ $`=\pm f(\alpha _k)`$ and $`f\psi _k`$ has the same value on the other generators. Therefore composing $`f`$ with a suitable composition of $`\psi _k`$’s we get the homomorphism as desired in the proposition. ∎

### 1.5. Corollary.

The moduli space $`_{g,Q}`$ of quaternionic covers is irreducible.

Proof. Recall that the Teichmüller space $`𝒯_g`$ parametrizes genus $`g`$ curves with a set of standard generators of $`\pi _1(C)`$. The group $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_g`$ acts on $`𝒯_g`$ and $`_g=\mathrm{\Gamma }_g\backslash 𝒯_g`$. Proposition 1.4 shows that the map

$$𝒯_g_{g,Q},[C,\{\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\beta _g\}][(\mathrm{ker}f)\backslash C^{univ}C],$$

where $`f`$ is as in the proposition, is surjective, hence $`_{g,Q}`$ is irreducible. ∎

### 1.6. Construction of quaternionic covers.

For completeness sake we briefly indicate how one can construct quaternionic covers of an algebraic curve $`C`$ of genus $`g>1`$. By Corollary 1.5, any quaternionic cover arises in this way.

Choose an étale double cover $`\pi _\alpha :C_\alpha C`$ of degree 2 with covering involution $`\iota _\alpha `$. Let $`\eta Div(C_\alpha )`$ be a divisor such that $`4\eta 0`$ and $`\eta +\iota _\alpha ^{}\eta 0`$ and let $`hk(C_\alpha )`$, the function field of $`C_\alpha `$, have divisor $`(h)=\eta +\iota _\alpha ^{}\eta `$. Then $`\iota _\alpha ^{}h=\pm h`$ and we claim that, changing maybe $`\eta `$, we may assume that $`\iota _\alpha ^{}h=h`$.

To prove the claim we choose $`\gamma Div(C)`$ such that $`2\gamma \alpha `$, a divisor of order 2 in $`Pic(C)`$ which defines $`C_\alpha `$. Then $`\pi _\alpha ^{}\gamma `$ has order two in $`Pic(C_\alpha )`$ and $`\iota _\alpha ^{}\pi _\alpha ^{}\gamma =\pi _\alpha ^{}\gamma `$ whence $`\iota _\alpha ^{}\pi _\alpha ^{}\gamma +\pi _\alpha ^{}\gamma 0`$. Therefore there is a rational function $`gk(C_\alpha )`$ with $`(g)=\iota _\alpha ^{}\pi _\alpha ^{}\gamma +\pi _\alpha ^{}\gamma `$ and $`\iota _\alpha ^{}g=g`$ since the divisor of $`g`$ is invariant under $`\iota ^{}`$ but $`g\pi _\alpha ^{}k(C)(k(C_\alpha ))`$. Now in case $`\iota _\alpha ^{}h=h`$, we let $`\eta ^{}:=\eta +\pi _\alpha ^{}\gamma `$. Then $`4\eta ^{}0`$, $`\eta ^{}+\iota _\alpha ^{}\eta ^{}=(gh)0`$ and moreover $`\iota _\alpha ^{}(gh)=gh`$ which proves the claim.

Now consider the cover $`\stackrel{~}{C}`$ of $`C_\alpha `$ which is defined by the field $`k(\stackrel{~}{C}):=k(C_\alpha )[T]/(T^4f)`$ where $`fk(C_\alpha )`$ is such that $`(f)=4\eta `$. Thus $`\stackrel{~}{C}`$ is an étale 4:1 cover of $`C_\alpha `$. We claim that the étale cover $`\stackrel{~}{C}C`$ is quaternionic.

To see this, let $`t:=T+(T^4f)k(\stackrel{~}{C})`$ and define

$$\stackrel{~}{\iota }^{}:k(\stackrel{~}{C})k(\stackrel{~}{C}),\stackrel{~}{\iota }^{}(t)=\frac{h}{t},\stackrel{~}{\iota }_{|k(C_\alpha )}^{}=\iota _\alpha ^{}.$$

Then $`\stackrel{~}{\iota }^{}`$ is an automorphism of $`k(\stackrel{~}{C})`$ which lifts $`\iota ^{}\alpha `$ since $`f\iota _\alpha ^{}f=h^4`$ implies

$$\stackrel{~}{\iota }^{}(t^4f)=\stackrel{~}{\iota }^{}(t)^4\iota _\alpha ^{}f=(h/t)^4\iota _\alpha ^{}f=h^4/f\iota _\alpha ^{}f=0.$$

The order of the automorphism $`\stackrel{~}{\iota }^{}`$ is 4 since

$$\stackrel{~}{\iota }^{}(\stackrel{~}{\iota }^{}(t))=\stackrel{~}{\iota }^{}(h/t)=\stackrel{~}{\iota }^{}(h)t/h=t.$$

Any other lift of $`\iota _\alpha ^{}`$ is given by $`ti^ah/t`$ for $`a=1,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}`$ (and $`i^2=1`$) hence all lifts of $`\iota _\alpha ^{}`$ to $`k(\stackrel{~}{C})`$ have order 4 and therefore the cover $`\stackrel{~}{C}C`$ is quaternionic.

## 2. Quaternionic pryms.

### 2.1. Quaternion type.

We will say that $`(A,E,F)`$ is a polarized abelian variety of quaternion type if $`(A,E)`$ is a polarized abelian variety and if there is a definite quaternion algebra $`F`$ over $`𝐐`$ with $`FEnd(A)𝐐`$ in such a way that $`H_1(A,𝐐)`$ is a vector space over $`F`$ and $`x^{}E=x\overline{x}E`$. The last condition is equivalent to the condition that the Rosati involution defined by $`E`$ on $`End(A)`$ induces the canonical involution on $`F`$.

### 2.2. Moduli.

Let now $`(A,E,F)`$ be a polarized abelian variety of quaternion type, and let $`dimA=2n`$. The deformations of $`A`$ which have the same endomorphism ring and polarization are parametrized by a symmetric space which has dimension $`n(n1)/2`$ (cf. \[LB\], section 9.5).

### 2.3. Quaternionic covers.

Let $`\stackrel{~}{C}C`$ be a quaternionic cover of a genus $`g`$ curve $`C`$. The Zeuthen-Hurwitz formula shows that the genus of $`\stackrel{~}{C}`$ is $`8g7`$. The quotient of $`\stackrel{~}{C}`$ by $`\{\pm 1\}Q`$ is a curve of genus $`4g3`$, denoted by $`\widehat{C}`$.

$$\stackrel{~}{C}\stackrel{2:1}{}\widehat{C}=\stackrel{~}{C}/\{\pm 1\}\stackrel{4:1}{}C.$$

The Prym variety $`P:=Prym(\stackrel{~}{C}/\widehat{C})`$ is called a quaternionic Prym. The following proposition shows that it is of quaternion type.

### 2.4. Proposition.

The Prym variety $`P:=Prym(\stackrel{~}{C}/\widehat{C})`$ is a $`4(g1)`$-dimensional principally polarized abelian variety of quaternion type for the algebra $`𝐇_𝐐`$.

Proof. The dimension of $`P`$ is $`8g7(4g3)=4(g1)`$ and Pryms of unramified double covers are principally polarized. The group $`Q`$ has 5 irreducible complex representations, 4 of which are one-dimensional, these factor over $`Q/\{\pm 1\}(𝐙/2𝐙)^2`$, and one is faithful and has dimension 2. The group ring $`𝐐[Q]`$ is isomorphic to $`𝐐^4𝐇_𝐐`$. By definition of the Prym, $`1Q`$ acts as $`1`$ on the tangent space $`T_0P`$ hence $`H_1(P,𝐐)`$ is a $`𝐇_𝐐`$-vector space. Let $`\alpha \{i,j,k\}Q`$, then $`\alpha ^{}Aut(P)`$ and thus $`E(\alpha ^{}x,\alpha ^{}y)=E(x,y)`$ for all $`x,yH_1(P,𝐐)`$ where $`E^2H^1(P,𝐐)`$ is the polarization on $`P`$. Since the Rosati involution $`\varphi \varphi ^{}`$ is characterized by $`E(\varphi x,y)=E(x,\varphi ^{}y)`$ and $`\alpha ^2=1`$ we conclude that $`\alpha ^{}=\alpha ^{}`$. As $`(a\varphi +b\psi )^{}=a\varphi ^{}+b\psi ^{}`$ for $`a,b𝐐`$ and $`\varphi ,\psi End(P)`$, the Rosati involution induces the canonical involution on $`𝐇_𝐐`$. ∎

### 2.5.

We determine the homomorphism

$$QAut(H_1(P,𝐙))Sp(4(g1),𝐙).$$

The period matrices which correspond to quaternionic Pryms are contained in the fixed point set of the action of $`Q`$ (via the symplectic group) on the Siegel upper half space. To do this we introduce the ring

$$𝐇_𝐙:=\{a+bi+cj+dk𝐇_𝐐:a,b,c,d𝐙\}.$$

and the $`𝐇_𝐙`$-module (actually itself a ring, the ring of Hurwitz integers):

$$M:=\{a\zeta +bi+cj+dk𝐇_𝐐:a,b,c,d𝐙\},\mathrm{with}\zeta =(1+i+j+k)/2.$$

The $`𝐇_𝐙`$-module $`M`$ is not free since there is no $`mM`$ such that $`m,im,jm,km`$ are a $`𝐙`$-basis of $`M`$, in fact, $`(1+i+j+k)m`$ is divisible by $`2`$ in $`M`$ for any $`mM`$.

### 2.6. Proposition.

The period lattice of a quaternionic Prym of dimension $`4(g1)`$ is isomorphic to the $`𝐇_𝐙`$-module:

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }\left(M𝐇_𝐙^{g2}\right)^2.$$

Proof. We consider first the case that $`C`$ has genus two, we may assume that the cover $`\stackrel{~}{C}C`$ is defined by $`\mathrm{ker}(f)`$ with $`f`$ as in Proposition 1.4. Let $`X`$ be the union of two circles with a point $`x_0`$ in common, note that $`\pi _1(X)`$ is a free group on two generators. We can view $`C`$ as the boundary of a tubular neighbourhood of $`X`$ and we may assume that the contraction $`CX`$ maps $`\alpha _1`$, $`\alpha _2\pi _1(C)`$ homeomorphically onto the two circles. Then $`\pi :\stackrel{~}{C}C`$ is the pull-back of a cover $`p:\stackrel{~}{X}X`$. Choosing a base point $`\stackrel{~}{x}_0p^1(x_0)`$, we can identify $`Qp^1(x_0)`$ via $`g[g]:=g\stackrel{~}{x}_0`$. As $`f(\alpha _1)=i`$, $`f(\alpha _2)=j`$, the 8 distinct lifts of the first circle are paths in $`\stackrel{~}{X}`$ connecting the points $`g`$ and $`ig`$, whereas the lifts of the second circle connect $`g`$ and $`jg`$. In particular, $`\stackrel{~}{X}`$ is a simplicial complex with vertices $`[g]`$, $`gQ`$, and edges $`[g,ig]`$ and $`[g,jg]`$. Let

$$c=[1,i]+[i,k]+[k,j]+[j,1]+[i,1]+[1,j]+[j,k]+[k,i].$$

Then one easily verifies that the subgroup $`V_{}`$ of $`H_1(\stackrel{~}{X},𝐙)`$ generated by the cycles $`c`$, $`ic`$, $`jc`$ and $`\zeta c`$ is a direct summand of $`H_1(\stackrel{~}{X},𝐙)`$. In particular, $`V_{}M`$. Since $`1Q`$ acts as $`1`$ on $`V_{}`$, we may identify $`M`$ with a direct summand of $`H_1(P,𝐙)H_1(\stackrel{~}{C},𝐙)`$ via the contraction $`\stackrel{~}{C}\stackrel{~}{X}`$. Note that the intersection pairing is trivial on $`V_{}\times V_{}`$.

The inverse image of an open edge $`e^0\stackrel{~}{X}`$ is a cylinder $`S^1\times ]0,1[`$ in $`\stackrel{~}{C}`$ and we define $`b_eH_1(\stackrel{~}{C},𝐙)`$ to be the homology class of the loop $`S^1\times \{1/2\}`$. The subgroup $`H_1(P,𝐙)`$ of $`H_1(\stackrel{~}{C},𝐙)`$ on which $`1Q`$ acts as $`1`$ is the direct sum of $`V_{}`$ and a subgroup of $`𝐙e_b`$. Hence $`gQ`$ acts on $`H_1(P,𝐙)`$ via diagonal block matrices $`diag(A(g),B(g))`$, using the intersection pairing one has that $`B(g)={}_{}{}^{t}A(g)^1`$ and $`A(g)GL(4,𝐙)`$. Therefore $`H_1(P,𝐙)MM`$.

In case $`g(C)=g>2`$ we obtain $`C`$ as a genus two surface, containing the loops $`\alpha _{g1}`$ and $`\alpha _g`$, with $`g2`$ tori $`T_1`$, $`\mathrm{}`$, $`T_{g2}`$ attached. The inverse image of $`T_i`$ in $`\stackrel{~}{C}`$ is the disjoint union of of $`8`$ copies of $`T_i`$ which are permuted under the action of $`Q`$. From this one finds the description given in the proposition. ∎

## 3. The Prym map is surjective in genus three.

### 3.1.

A quaternionic cover of a genus three curve produces an $`8`$-dimensional quaternionic Prym. These Pryms are parametrized by a $`6`$-dimensional symmetrical subdomain of the Siegel space, see section 2.2. We will show in this section that the locus of such quaternionic Pryms has dimension $`6`$, hence the general principally polarized quaternionic $`8`$-fold in this family is a quaternionic Prym. In section 3.2 we show that it suffices to prove that a certain multiplication map $`\mu _2`$ is surjective and that is established in Theorem 3.6.

### 3.2.

Let $`𝒜_g`$ be the moduli space of principally polarized abelian varieties of dimension $`g`$. We will show that the map

$$q:_{3,Q}𝒜_8,[\stackrel{~}{C}C]P$$

has a 6-dimensional image. For this it suffices to find a cover $`\stackrel{~}{C}/C`$ at which the differential $`\mathrm{d}q`$ of $`q`$ has maximal rank. The map $`q`$ factors as follows:

$$_{3,Q}\stackrel{r}{}_9^{\mathrm{}}\stackrel{p}{}𝒜_8,[\stackrel{~}{C}C](\widehat{C},\eta )P$$

where $`_9^{\mathrm{}}`$ is the moduli space of genus 9 curves with a point of order two in the Picard group and $`\eta Pic^0(\widehat{C})[2]`$ is the line bundle defining the 2:1 cover $`\stackrel{~}{C}/\widehat{C}`$.

The map $`r`$ is quasi-finite onto its image: the curve $`\widehat{C}`$ comes with a fixed point free $`(𝐙/2𝐙)^2`$-action with quotient $`C`$, as the automorphism group of a curve of genus at least 2 is finite, a given $`\widehat{C}`$ is in the image of at most a finite number of points in $`_{3,Q}`$.

It remains to show that the differential of the Prym map $`p`$ has maximal rank at a point $`c=(\widehat{C},\eta )`$ in the image of $`r`$.

After adding level structures if necessary, the codifferential of $`p`$

$$(\mathrm{d}p_c)^{}:T_{p(c)}^{}𝒜_8S^2H^0(\omega _{\widehat{C}}\eta )T_c^{}_9^{\mathrm{}}H^0(\widehat{C},\omega _{\widehat{C}}^2)$$

is the multiplication map $`\mu _2:S^2H^0(\omega _{\widehat{C}}\eta )H^0(\omega _{\widehat{C}}^2)`$. The sheaf $`\omega _{\widehat{C}}\eta `$ is called the Prym-canonical line bundle. So we need to show that $`\mu _2`$ is surjective for some point in the image of $`r`$.

### 3.3. Lemma.

There exist quaternionic covers $`\stackrel{~}{C}/C`$ in $`_{3,Q}`$ such that:

1. The genus $`9`$ curve $`\widehat{C}=\stackrel{~}{C}/\{\pm 1\}`$ is the complete intersection of a smooth quadric $`S`$ and a quartic surface in $`𝐏^3`$.
2. Let $`L`$ be the line bundle on $`\widehat{C}`$ which defines this map $`\widehat{C}𝐏^3`$. Then $`L`$ is a theta characteristic on $`\widehat{C}`$ (so $`L^2\omega `$) and $`h^0(L)=4`$.
3. Let $`\theta :=L\eta `$ where $`\eta Pic^0(\widehat{C})[2]`$ is the line bundle defining the 2:1 cover $`\stackrel{~}{C}/\widehat{C}`$. Then $`\theta `$ is a theta characteristic on $`\widehat{C}`$ and $`h^0(\theta )=0`$.
4. The Prym canonical line bundle $`\omega _{\widehat{C}}\eta L\theta `$ is very ample on $`\widehat{C}`$.

Proof. Consider the genus two curve $`X`$ defined by $`y^2=x^5x`$. We have $`QAut(X)`$, for example:

$$i,j:XX,i(x,y):=(x,iy),j(x,y):=(x^1,iyx^3).$$

We will show that there are curves $`\stackrel{~}{C}J(X)`$ which are invariant under $`Q`$ such that the quotient map $`\stackrel{~}{C}C:=\stackrel{~}{C}/Q`$ is unramified and such that $`C`$ has genus three. Thus the cover $`\stackrel{~}{C}/C`$ is in the family under consideration and we verify the lemma for these curves. For such a curve $`\stackrel{~}{C}`$ the curve $`\widehat{C}=\stackrel{~}{C}/\{\pm 1\}`$ lies in the Kummer surface $`K(X)=J(X)/\pm 1`$. If $`\mathrm{\Theta }J(X)`$ is (any) symmetrical theta divisor, the map $`K(X)𝐏^3`$ given by $`H^0(J(X),𝒪(2\mathrm{\Theta }))`$ identifies $`K(X)`$ with a (16-nodal) quartic surface.

The Kummer surface $`K(X)𝐏^3`$ is also the image of the secant variety $`Sec(X)`$ to the tricanonical curve $`X𝐏^4`$ under the map given by the quadrics in the ideal of $`X`$, this follows from \[BV\], Lemma 4.22(1) (this part of the lemma works for hyperelliptic curves), see also \[vGI\], section 5 (with $`D=K`$, the canonical system) for another proof. Using the isomorphism

$$1,x,x^2,x^3,yH^0(\omega _X^3),ffy^3(\mathrm{d}x)^3,$$

one finds that $`Q`$ acts on $`𝐏^4`$ via:

$$i(x_0:\mathrm{}:x_4)=(x_0:x_1:x_2:x_3:ix_4),j(x_0:\mathrm{}:x_4)=(x_3:x_2:x_1:x_0:ix_4).$$

The ideal of the tricanonical curve $`X𝐏^4`$ is generated by the 4 quadrics

$$Q_0=x_4^2+x_0x_1x_2x_3,Q_1=x_0x_2x_1^2,Q_2^2=x_0x_3x_1x_2,Q_3=x_1x_3x_2^2$$

thus the rational map $`𝐏^4𝐏^3`$ given by $`x(Q_0(x):\mathrm{}:Q_4(x))`$ maps $`Sec(X)`$ onto $`K(X)`$.

The degree four polynomials $`Q_0^2`$, $`Q_2^2`$, $`Q_1Q_3`$ and $`Q_1^2+Q_3^2`$ are invariant under $`Q`$ and their common zeroes are just the points of $`X𝐏^4`$, in particular, they are not all zero on a secant line. Therefore a general linear combination of these quartic polynomials defines a smooth, irreducible $`Q`$-invariant divisor $`\stackrel{~}{C}`$ on $`J(X)`$ which does not contain any fixed point of any non trivial element of $`Q`$. Hence $`\stackrel{~}{C}C:=\stackrel{~}{C}/Q`$ is a quaternionic cover.

Since $`\stackrel{~}{C}|4\mathrm{\Theta }|`$, the adjunction formula shows that $`\omega _{\stackrel{~}{C}}`$ is the restriction of $`𝒪_{J(X)}(4\mathrm{\Theta })`$ to $`\stackrel{~}{C}`$ and thus $`\stackrel{~}{C}`$ has genus $`17`$. Moreover, $`\stackrel{~}{C}`$ has an even theta characteristic $`\stackrel{~}{L}`$ which is the restriction of $`𝒪_{J(X)}(2\mathrm{\Theta })`$ to $`\stackrel{~}{C}`$. The exact sequence

$$0𝒪_{J(X)}(2\mathrm{\Theta })𝒪_{J(X)}(2\mathrm{\Theta })\stackrel{~}{L}0$$

shows that $`h^0(\stackrel{~}{L})=h^0(𝒪(2\mathrm{\Theta }))=4`$. Since $`2\mathrm{\Theta }`$ defines the map $`J(X)K(X)𝐏^3`$ which induces the cover $`\pi :\stackrel{~}{C}\widehat{C}`$, we have $`\stackrel{~}{L}=\pi ^{}L`$ for a theta characteristic $`L`$ on $`\widehat{C}`$ with $`h^0(L)=4`$. As

$$H^0(\stackrel{~}{C},\stackrel{~}{L})H^0(\widehat{C},L)H^0(\widehat{C},L\eta ),$$

we get $`h^0(\theta )=0`$ since $`\theta =L\eta `$.

To see that $`L\theta `$ is very ample, consider the minimal desingularization $`\sigma :KK(X)`$ of $`K(X)`$. Let $`E`$ be the exceptional divisor and let $`D`$ be the pull-back of a plane. It turns out that

$$𝒪_K(4D\frac{1}{2}E)$$

is very ample and that its restriction to the pull-back of $`C`$ is $`H`$ cf. \[Ba\]. ∎

### 3.4. Remark.

One can show that a genus $`9`$ curve $`\widehat{C}`$ which is a $`(𝐙/2𝐙)^2`$-cover of a genus $`3`$ curve $`C`$ has a theta characteristic $`L`$ with $`h^0(L)=4`$. The bundle $`L`$ is the pull-back of an odd theta characteristic on $`C`$. The map $`\widehat{C}|L|^{}`$ embeds the general such $`\widehat{C}`$ as a complete intersection of a smooth quadric and a quartic surface.

### 3.5.

From now on we write $`C`$ for the genus $`9`$ curve $`\widehat{C}`$ as in Lemma 3.3. We denote the Prym-canonical line bundle on $`C`$ by $`H`$:

$$H=\omega _C\eta L\theta .$$

Since $`H\cong ̸\omega _C`$, we have $`h^1(H)=0`$, hence $`H`$ is non special. Moreover, $`H^0(HL^{})=H^0(\theta )=0`$. It follows from the previous lemma that

$$CS=𝐏^1\times 𝐏^1,L=𝒪_C(1,1),$$

where $`S`$ is a smooth quadric and $`C`$ has type $`(4,4)`$. The surjectivity of $`\mu _2`$ will be a consequence, for $`n=4`$, of the following more general statement about curves of type $`(n,n)`$ in $`𝐏^1\times 𝐏^1`$.

### 3.6. Theorem.

Let $`C`$ be any smooth element of $`𝒪_S(n,n)`$ and let $`L=𝒪_C(1,1)`$. Assume

$$HPic^{n^2}(C)$$

is a non special and very ample line bundle such that $`h^0(HL^{})=0`$.

Then for all $`d1`$ the multiplication maps

$$\mu _d:Sym^dH^0(H)H^0(H^d)$$

are surjective, i.e. $`H`$ is normally generated.

Proof. Since $`C`$ has genus $`(n1)^2`$ and $`H`$ has degree $`n^2`$ with $`h^1(H)=0`$, Riemann-Roch shows that $`h^0(H)=2n`$. As $`H`$ is very ample, we can assume

$$C𝐏^{2n1}$$

with $`𝒪_C(1)H`$. Let $`_C`$ be the ideal sheaf of $`C`$ in $`𝐏^{2n1}`$. It is easy to check that

$$h^0(_C(2))dimS^2H^0(H)dimH^0(H^2)=2\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{2}\right)$$

and that the equality holds iff $`\mu _2`$ is surjective.

Let $`L_1=𝒪_C(1,0)`$, $`L_2=𝒪_C(0,1)`$ then $`L=L_1L_2`$. We observe that, for any divisor

$$d_iL_i(i=1,2),$$

the linear span

$$<d_i>(𝐏^{2n1})$$

is a space of dimension $`n1`$. If not, $`d_1+d_2`$ would be contained in a hyperplane $`P`$ and we would have $`PC=d_1+d_2+t`$ with $`t`$ effective. This contradicts our assumptions, because $`𝒪_C(t)HL^{}`$. Using the same proof we can show that

$$<d_1><d_2>$$

is either empty or a point of $`C`$. Assume $`Suppd_1Suppd_2`$ is empty, then the proof is exactly the same. Assume $`Suppd_1Suppd_2`$ is non empty, then it consists of one point $`p`$ and moreover $`Supp(d_1p)Supp(d_2p)`$ is empty. If $`<d_1><d_2>=p`$ we are done. Otherwise there exists a pencil of hyperplanes containing $`d_1+d_2p`$. Hence there exists a hyperplane $`P`$ as above: contradiction.

Let

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }_i$$

be the union of the spaces $`<d_i>`$, where $`d_i`$ varies in $`L_i`$, then

$$C=\mathrm{\Sigma }_1\mathrm{\Sigma }_2.$$

The variety $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_i`$ is well known: it is an example of rational normal scroll of $`𝐏^{2n1}`$. A rational normal scroll $`V`$ of $`𝐏^r`$ can be defined as the image, under the tautological map, of

$$Proj_{s=1}^k𝒪_{𝐏^1}(a_s),$$

where $`a_1+\mathrm{}+a_k=r+1k`$ and $`a_s0`$. In particular $`V`$ has dimension $`k`$ and minimal degree $`r+1k`$ with respect to the dimension. It is known that $`V`$ is arithmetically Cohen-Macauley and that its homogeneous ideal

$$I_VB=𝐂[X_0,\mathrm{},X_r]$$

is generated by quadrics. Moreover $`V`$ is a determinantal variety and a basis for the vector space $`I_V(2)`$ is given by the order two minors, denoted by

$$q_1,\mathrm{},q_N,$$

of a $`2\times k`$ matrix of linear forms (cfr. \[ACGH\] p.95-100). In the case of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_i`$ we have $`k=n`$ so that $`deg\mathrm{\Sigma }_i=dim\mathrm{\Sigma }_i=n`$. Note that:

1. $`C`$ is smooth of degree $`n^2`$,
2. $`codimC=codim\mathrm{\Sigma }_1+codim\mathrm{\Sigma }_2`$,
3. $`C=\mathrm{\Sigma }_1\mathrm{\Sigma }_2`$.

This implies that $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_2`$ intersect transversally at each point and that $`C`$ is scheme theoretically the intersection of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_2`$. Moreover the depth of $`C`$, as a subscheme of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1`$, equals its codimension in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_2`$, which is $`n1`$. (We recall that, by definiton, the depth of a closed subscheme $`Y`$ in $`X`$ is the largest integer $`d`$ such that, for all $`xY`$, the ideal of $`Y`$ in the local ring $`𝒪_{X,x}`$ contains a regular sequence of length $`d`$: see \[F\] 14.3.1, p.251).

The ideal $`I_{\mathrm{\Sigma }_2}`$ admits a minimal free resolution $`(F_{})I_{\mathrm{\Sigma }_2}`$ of the same length $`n1`$. As is well known such a resolution looks like

$$0F_{n1}\mathrm{}F_1I_{\mathrm{\Sigma }_2}0,$$

where $`F_1`$ is the direct sum of $`\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{2}\right)`$ copies of $`B(2)`$ and the map $`F_1I_{\mathrm{\Sigma }_2}`$ is defined by the previously considered minors $`q_1,\mathrm{},q_N`$. Let

$$JA=B/I_{\mathrm{\Sigma }_1}$$

be the homogeneous ideal of $`C`$ in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1`$. We claim that the tensor product $`(F_{})_BA`$ yields a resolution of $`J`$. This is true because the length of $`(F_{})`$ and the depth of $`C`$ in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1`$ are the same. Indeed, under this assumption, we are in the case considered in \[F\], Example 14.3.1 p.252. Our claim follows from the property stated there or from \[KL\] Corollary 8.

Let $`I_C`$ be the homogeneous ideal of $`C`$ in $`𝐏^{2n1}`$ and let $`qI_C(2)`$. Due to our previous claim, $`q`$ is a linear combination of elements of $`I_1(2)`$ and $`I_2(2)`$. Hence we have $`dimI_C(2)2\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{2}\right)`$. On the other hand we had $`dimI_C(2)2\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n}{2}\right)`$ so that the equality holds. Hence $`\mu _2`$ is surjective and this implies that $`\mu _d`$ is surjective for all $`d2`$ (cfr. \[ACGH\] D.6 p.140). ∎

### 3.7. Remark.

Let $`g`$ be the genus of $`C`$, then $`g=(n1)^2`$ and the line bundle $`HL^{}`$ lies in $`Pic^{g1}(C)`$. It can be shown that the assumptions of the theorem are satisfied on a non empty open set of $`Pic^{g1}(C)`$.

Conversely, every transversal intersection of two rational normal scroll of dimension $`n`$ in $`𝐏^{2n1}`$ admits a natural embedding in $`𝐏^1\times 𝐏^1`$ as a smooth curve of type $`(n,n)`$.

## 4. Weil classes and quaternion classes

### 4.1.

We recall a result of Abdulali \[A\] which relates the Hodge conjecture for abelian varieties of Weil type to the Hodge conjecture for quaternionic abelian varieties. From Schoen’s construction of cycles on Prym varieties and our previous results, the Hodge conjecture for the general quaternionic Prym studied in this paper then follows, see Corollary 4.10.

### 4.2. Abelian varieties of Weil type.

For an imaginary quadratic field $`K`$ we denote by $`x\overline{x}`$ the non-trivial field automorphism of $`K`$. The complex embeddings $`K𝐂`$ are denoted by $`\sigma `$ and $`\overline{\sigma }`$, note $`\sigma (\overline{x})=\overline{\sigma }(x)`$.

A polarized abelian variety $`(A,E)`$ of dimension $`2n`$ is of Weil type, with field $`K`$, if there is an inclusion $`KEnd(A)𝐐`$ such that $`H_1(A,𝐐)`$ is a $`K`$-vector space and if the eigenvalues of any $`xK`$ on the holomorphic tangent space $`T_0A`$ to $`A`$ at the origin are $`\sigma (x)`$ and $`\overline{\sigma }(x)`$ each with multiplicity $`n`$. Moreover, one requires that $`x^{}E=x\overline{x}E`$.

### 4.3. Weil classes.

We recall the definition of the space of Weil classes $`W_KH^{2n}(A,𝐐)`$ for an abelian variety $`A`$ of Weil type of dimension $`2n`$ with field $`K`$.

For an embedding $`\rho `$ of $`K`$ into $`𝐂`$ we let $`V_\rho H^1(A,𝐂)`$ be the corresponding eigenspace, so $`xv=\rho (x)v`$ for $`xK`$ and $`vV_\rho `$:

$$H^1(A,𝐐)_𝐐𝐂H^1(A,𝐂)=_{\rho \{\sigma ,\overline{\sigma }\}}V_\rho ,dim_𝐂V_\rho =2n.$$

Since $`A`$ is of Weil type, the Hodge decomposition induces a decomposition

$$V_\rho =V_\rho ^{1,0}V_\rho ^{0,1},dim_𝐂V_\rho ^{1,0}=dim_𝐂V_\rho ^{0,1}=n(\rho \{\sigma ,\overline{\sigma }\}).$$

It is easy to see that the one dimensional subspaces $`^{2n}V_\sigma `$ and $`^{2n}V_{\overline{\sigma }}`$ of $`H^{2n}(A,𝐂)`$ are of Hodge type $`(n,n)`$ and that they are the eigenspaces in $`H^{2n}(A,𝐂)`$ on which $`xK`$ acts as $`\sigma (x)^{2n}`$ and $`\overline{\sigma }(x)^{2n}`$. This implies that their sum is defined over $`𝐐`$. In fact, for $`xK`$, the polynomial $`f:=(T\sigma (x)^{2n})(T\overline{\sigma }(x)^{2n})`$ has coefficients in $`𝐐`$, let $`f=T^2+aT+b`$. The kernel $`W_x`$ of the linear map

$$W_x=\mathrm{ker}\left(x^2+ax+b:H^{2n}(A,𝐐)=^{2n}H^1(A,𝐐)^{2n}H^1(A,𝐐)\right)$$

(induced by $`x^2+ax+bEnd(H^1(A,𝐐))`$) is the subspace of $`^{2n}H^1(A,𝐐)`$ on which the eigenvalues of $`x`$ are $`\sigma (x)^{2n}`$ and $`\overline{\sigma }(x)^{2n}`$. Therefore $`W_K`$, the intersection of all $`W_x`$ ($`xK`$), is two dimensional:

$$W_K:=_{xK}W_x,W_K_𝐐𝐂=^{2n}V_\sigma ^{2n}V_{\overline{\sigma }}.$$

The subspace $`W_K`$ is also a sub-Hodge structure since each $`xK`$ preserves the Hodge structure on $`H^1(A,𝐐)`$ and, as we observed before:

$$W_K𝐂=_{\rho \{\sigma ,\overline{\sigma }\}}^{2n}V_\rho =_{\rho \{\sigma ,\overline{\sigma }\}}^nV_\rho ^{1,0}^nV_\rho ^{0,1}H^{n,n}(A),$$

hence $`W_KH^{n,n}(A)`$. Thus we have a two dimensional subspace $`W_KH^{2n}(A,𝐐)H^{n,n}(A)`$, which is the space of Weil classes. (To see that this is the space defined by Weil in \[We\], note that the subspace $`_K^{2n}H^1(A,𝐐)`$ is contained in $`H^{2n}(A,𝐐)`$ and that $`xK`$ has eigenvalues $`\rho (x)^{2n}`$ on this subspace.)

### 4.4. Hodge classes.

For a general $`2n`$-dimensional polarized abelian variety $`(A,E)`$ of Weil type (i.e. $`Hod(A)(𝐂)SL(2n,𝐂)`$) one has (\[vG\], Thm. 6.12):

$$B^n(A)^nEW_K,B^i(A)=^iE(in).$$

### 4.5. Lemma.

Let $`(A,E,F)`$ be an abelian variety of quaternion type. Let $`KF`$ be a quadratic extension of $`𝐐`$. Then $`A`$ is of Weil type for $`K`$.

Proof. A more general statement is proved in \[A\], $`\mathrm{\S }`$4. Since $`F`$ is definite, $`KF`$ must be an imaginary quadratic field. Moreover, there is a $`jF`$ such that $`F=KKj`$ and $`xj=j\overline{x}`$ for $`xK`$. Hence the eigenspaces of $`x`$ are permuted by the action of $`j`$ on $`T_0A`$ and therefore they have the same dimension. ∎

### 4.6. Quaternion classes.

Let $`F`$ be a definite quaternion algebra over $`𝐐`$ and let $`KF`$ be an (imaginary) quadratic subfield. Let $`A`$ be a $`2n`$-dimensional abelian variety of quaternion type with algebra $`F`$. We define the subspace $`W_FH^{2n}(A,𝐐)`$ as the subspace spanned by the translates $`xW_K`$ where $`x`$ runs over $`F`$ and $`W_K`$ is the space of Weil classes for the field $`K`$.

### 4.7. Proposition.

The definition of $`W_F`$ does not depend on the choice of $`KF`$ and

$$W_FH^{2n}(A,𝐐)H^{n,n}(A),dim_𝐐W_F=2n+1.$$

Proof. Since $`𝐇_𝐐_𝐐𝐂M_2(𝐂)`$ we have $`(F𝐂)^{}GL_2(𝐂)`$ and this group acts on each $`^kH^1(A,𝐂)`$. The space $`H^1(A,𝐂)V^{2n}`$ where $`V`$ is the standard 2-dimensional representation of $`GL_2(𝐂)`$. If $`v_i`$ denotes a highest weight vector in the $`i`$-th copy of $`V`$ then $`v_1\mathrm{}v_{2n}`$ is a highest weight vector in $`^{2n}V^{2n}`$ and the multiplicity of the corresponding weight is one. Hence $`^{2n}H^1(A,𝐂)`$ has a unique irreducible summand of dimension $`2n+1`$ denoted by $`V_{2n+1}`$.

Let $`KF`$ be a quadratic subfield, then $`(K𝐂)^{}(𝐂^{})^2`$ and this is a Cartan subgroup of $`GL_2(𝐂)`$. Since $`xK`$ has eigenvalues $`\sigma (x),\overline{\sigma }(x)`$ on $`V`$, it has eigenvalues $`\sigma (x)^{2n}`$, $`\sigma (x)^{2n1}\overline{\sigma }(x)`$,…, $`\overline{\sigma }(x)^{2n}`$ on $`V_{2n+1}`$. In particular, $`W_K𝐂V_{2n+1}`$. The uniqueness and irreducibility of $`V_{2n+1}`$ imply that $`W_F𝐂=V_{2n+1}`$, hence $`W_F`$ does not depend on $`K`$ and has dimension $`2n+1`$. That $`W_FH^{n,n}(A)`$ is obvious since $`W_KH^{n,n}(A)`$ and elements from $`F`$ preserve the Hodge structure on $`H^{2n}(A,𝐐)`$. ∎

### 4.8. Quaternion Hodge classes.

For a general polarized $`2n`$-dimensional abelian variety $`(A,E)`$ of quaternion type (i.e. $`Hod(A)(𝐂)SO(2n,𝐂))`$ one has (\[A\], Thm 4.1):

$$B^n(A)^nEW_F,B^i(A)=^iE(in).$$

### 4.9. Corollary.

(Abdulali \[A\].) Let $`(A,E,F)`$ be an abelian variety of quaternion type. Assume there is a quadratic subfield $`KF`$ such that the space of Weil classes $`W_K`$ is spanned by cycle classes.

Then the space of quaternionic classes $`W_F`$ is spanned by cycle classes.

Proof. This follows from the fact that $`W_F`$ is spanned by the translates of $`W_K`$ by elements of $`FEnd(A)`$. ∎

### 4.10. Corollary.

Let $`\stackrel{~}{C}C`$ be a quaternionic cover of a genus $`g`$ curve $`C`$ and let $`(P,E,F=𝐇_𝐐)`$ be the associated quaternionic Prym as in section 2.3.

Then the subspace $`W_FH^{4(g1)}(P,𝐐)`$ is spanned by cycle classes.

Proof. Let $`K=𝐐(i)𝐇_𝐐`$, and consider the 4:1 unramified cover $`\pi _i:\stackrel{~}{C}\stackrel{~}{C}/i`$. By Schoen’s result \[S1\], applied to the cover $`\pi _i`$, the space of Weil classes $`W_KH^{4(g1)}(P,𝐐)`$ is spanned by cycle classes. Now apply Corollary 4.9. ∎

## 5. Specialisation of quaternion classes

### 5.1.

We study the space of quaternionic classes $`W_FH^{2n}(A)`$ in the case that the quaternionic variety $`A`$ is a self-product $`B^2`$ of an abelian $`n`$-fold of Weil type $`B`$. The result is disappointing: the classes in $`W_F`$ specialize to complete intersections of divisors on $`B^2`$. In particular, even if the classes in $`W_F`$ are known to be cycle classes, one does not obtain new cycle classes on $`B^2`$.

### 5.2.

Let $`KF`$ be an imaginary quadratic subfield of a definite quaternion algebra $`F`$ over $`𝐐`$. Let $`A`$ an abelian variety of quaternion type with algebra $`F`$ which is isogenous to $`B^2`$, where $`B`$ is of Weil type with $`End(B)_𝐐K`$. Then we have

$$End(A)_𝐐=M_2(K)F_𝐐K.$$

The isomorphism between the algebras can be obtained as follows. Let $`K𝐐(\sqrt{r})`$, and write $`F=KKj`$ as in 1.1, with $`j^2=s`$ and $`jx=\overline{x}j`$. The map

$$FM_2(K),x+yj\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill x& y& \\ \hfill s\overline{y}& \overline{x}& \end{array}\right)$$

is an injective $`𝐐`$-algebra homomorphism and identifies $`F`$ with a subalgebra of $`M_2(K)`$. The $`K`$-linear extension of this map defines an isomorphism $`F_𝐐KM_2(K)`$.

The idempotents

$$P_1:=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill 1& 0& \\ \hfill 0& 0& \end{array}\right)\mathrm{and}P_2:=IP_1$$

define, up to isogeny, subvarieties $`B_i=Im(P_i)`$ of $`A`$ and $`A`$ is isogenous to $`B_1\times B_2`$. The uniqueness of the decomposition of $`A`$ into simple factors implies that the abelian varieties $`B_1`$ and $`B_2`$ are isogenous to the simple variety $`B`$. An explicit isogeny between $`B_1`$ and $`B_2`$ is given by $`jF`$. Note that for $`xK`$ the action of $`x1`$ and $`1x`$, coincide on $`B_1`$ but that on $`B_2`$ the action of $`x1`$ and $`1\overline{x}`$ coincide.

### 5.3. Proposition.

Let $`(A,F)`$ be an abelian variety of quaternion type of dimension $`2n`$, let $`K`$ be a quadratic subfield of $`F`$ and assume that $`A`$ is isogenous to $`B^2`$ with $`B`$ of Weil type for the field $`K`$.

Then the subspace $`W_FH^{2n}(A,𝐐)`$ is spanned by intersections of divisor classes.

Proof. To determine the divisor classes in $`H^2(A,K)`$ we use that $`(H^2(A,𝐐)H^{1,1}(A))𝐂`$ is the subspace of the invariants of the Hodge group $`Hod(A)(𝐂)`$ in $`^2H^1(A,𝐂)`$:

$$(H^2(A,𝐐)H^{1,1}(A))𝐂=^2H^1(A,𝐂)^{Hod(A)(𝐂)}.$$

Since $`AB^2`$, the Hodge group $`Hod(A)(𝐂)`$ is isomorphic to $`Hod(B)(𝐂)`$, acting diagonally on $`H^1(A,𝐂)=H^1(B,𝐂)H^1(B,𝐂)`$. As $`B`$ is of Weil type, $`Hod(B)(𝐂)SL(n,𝐂)`$ and $`H^1(B,𝐂)`$ is isomorphic to the direct sum of the standard representation $`W`$ of $`SL(n,𝐂)`$ and its dual $`W^{}`$ (cf. \[vG\]). The $`SL(n,𝐂)`$-invariants in $`H^2(A,𝐂)`$ are thus also $`Hod(A)(𝐂)`$-invariants. We have:

$$^2H^1(A,𝐂)(^2W)^2(^2W^{})^2(WW)(W^{}W^{})(WW^{})^4.$$

There are no $`SL(n,𝐂)`$-invariants in $`^2W`$, $`^2W^{}`$, $`WW`$ and $`W^{}W^{}`$, but the invariants are one dimensional in $`WW^{}`$ (identifying this space with $`End(W)`$, these are the scalar multiples of the identity). Thus $`dimH^2(A,𝐐)H^{1,1}(A)4`$.

Next we show that there is a one dimensional subspace in $`H^2(A,𝐂)H^{1,1}(A)`$ on which the subfield $`KF`$ acts via $`xv=x^2v`$. Under the isogeny $`AB_1\times B_2`$ given by the projectors $`P_i`$ we have

$$H^1(B_1,𝐐)V_1:=\{vH^1(A,𝐐):(x1)v=(1x)v,xK\},$$

$$H^1(B_2,𝐐)V_2:=\{vH^1(A,𝐐):(x1)v=(1\overline{x})v,xK\}.$$

The subspaces $`H^1(B_i,𝐂)=V_i𝐂`$ of $`H^1(A,𝐂)`$ have an eigenspace decomposition:

$$V_i_𝐐𝐂=V_i^+V_i^{},(x1)v_i^+=xv_i^+,(x1)v_i^{}=\overline{x}v_i^{},$$

for all $`v_i^\pm V_i^\pm `$ and $`i=1,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}`$. These subspaces are subrepresentations of $`Hod(A)(𝐂)`$ (since the Hodge group commutes with the endomorphisms) and we may identify $`V_1^+W`$, $`V_1^{}W^{}`$ because $`B_1`$ is of Weil type. The problem is to find the sign for which $`V_2^\pm W`$. Using the action of $`jF`$ this is easy though. Since $`jEnd(A)`$ it commutes with the action of the Hodge group, also $`jV_1^+W`$. As $`xj=j\overline{x}`$ in $`F`$, we have $`jV_1^+=V_2^{}`$. Therefore $`V_2^{}W`$ and $`V_2^+W^{}`$.

This implies that there is a one-dimensional subspace of $`V_1^+V_2^+`$ which is contained in $`H^2(A,𝐂)H^{1,1}(A)`$. The action of $`KF`$ on the vector space $`V_1^+V_2^+`$ is via $`xv=x^2v`$, as desired.

Finally we let $`c`$ be a basis of this one dimensional vector space. The $`n`$-fold self-product of $`c`$ is $`c^n^{2n}H^1(A,𝐂)H^{n,n}(A)`$. The field $`K`$ acts on $`c^n`$ as $`xc^n=x^{2n}c^n`$, thus $`c^nW_K𝐂`$. Since $`cV_1^+V_2^+WW^{}`$ corresponds to the identity map, we have that $`c^n^nV_1^+^nV_2^+`$ $`^{2n}(V_1^+V_2^+)`$ is non-trivial and lies in $`W_K`$. Hence $`W_K`$ is spanned by divisor classes. Since $`W_F`$ is spanned by $`F`$-translates of $`W_K`$, we conclude that $`W_F`$ is spanned by divisor classes. ∎

## 6. Abelian 8-folds of so(7)-type

### 6.1.

The general abelian 8-fold $`A`$ of quaternion type has complex Hodge group $`Hod(A)(𝐂)SO(8,𝐂)`$ and the representation of this group on $`H^1(A,𝐂)`$ can be identified, using triality, with 2 copies of a half spin representation $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_+`$ of dimension $`8`$. In the standard representation of $`SO(8,𝐂)`$ on $`𝐂^8`$ there is an invariant quadratic form and the stabilizer of a(ny) non-isotropic vector in $`𝐂^8`$ is a subgroup isomorphic to $`SO(7,𝐂)`$. The half spin representation $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_+`$ of $`SO(8)`$ restricts to the spin representation $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ of $`SO(7)`$, an eight dimensional irreducible representation. Now it is possible to find 5-dimensional families of abelian 8-folds $`A`$ whose complex Hodge group is $`SO(7)`$ and its representation on $`H^1(A,𝐂)`$ is two copies of the spin representation of $`SO(7)`$.

We will say that an $`8`$-dimensional abelian variety $`A`$ is of $`so(7)`$ type if the Lie algebra of $`Hod(A)(𝐂)`$ is contained in $`so(7)`$ and if $`H^1(A,𝐂)`$ is isomorphic to two copies of the spin representation of $`so(7)`$.

### 6.2. Proposition.

In a $`6`$-dimensional family of 8-folds of quaternion type there exist $`5`$-dimensional families of abelian varieties of $`so(7)`$ type. Moreover, in such a $`5`$-dimensional family there are $`4`$-dimensional families of abelian varieties of Weil type.

Proof. We use the theory of Kuga-Satake varieties but alternatively one could directly use Mumford-Tate groups. The moduli space of polarized Hodge structures of weight $`2`$ with Hodge numbers $`(1,n,1)`$ has dimension $`n`$ and the complex Hodge group of a general such Hodge structure is $`SO(n+2)`$ (\[vG2\], 4.6, 4.7). Kuga and Satake associated to such a Hodge structure $`V`$ an abelian variety $`J_{KS}(V)`$ of dimension $`2^{n2}`$ whose complex Hodge group is the universal cover $`Spin(n+2)`$ of $`SO(n+2)`$. This abelian variety is not simple in general, one has for $`V`$ general and $`n=4,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}5},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}6}`$ respectively:

$$J_{KS}(V)B_4^4,A^4,(A_+\times A_{})^4$$

where $`B_4`$ is an abelian $`4`$-fold of Weil type (\[vG2\], Theorem 9.2), $`A`$ is an abelian $`8`$-fold of $`so(7)`$ type and $`A_+`$, $`A_{}`$ are non-isogenous abelian varieties of quaternion type with complex Hodge group isomorphic to $`SO(8)`$. Specializing a general Hodge structure of type $`(1,6,1)`$ to a direct sum of a general Hodge structure of type $`(1,7,1)`$ and a Tate Hodge structure $`𝐐(1)`$, the abelian varieties $`A`$ and $`A^{}`$ become isogenous and of $`so(7)`$-type, similarly, specializing a general Hodge structure of type $`(1,5,1)`$ to one of type $`(1,4,1)`$ and $`𝐐(1)`$, the Kuga-Satake variety specializes to $`B_4^8`$ where $`B`$ is of Weil type (note that $`Hod(B)(𝐂)=SL(4,𝐂)=Spin(6,𝐂)`$). ∎

### 6.3.

The Hodge cycles $`B^p(A)=H^{2p}(A,𝐐)H^{p,p}(A)`$ in codimension $`p`$ on $`A`$ are just the invariants of the Hodge group $`Hod(A)`$, hence:

$$B^p(A)_𝐐𝐂=H^{2p}(A,𝐂)^{Hod(A)(𝐂)}=\left(^{2p}(\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Gamma })\right)^{so(7)},$$

where $`so(7)`$ is the Lie algebra of $`SO(7,𝐂)`$. The following proposition collects the basic facts on $`so(7)`$-representations that we will need.

### 6.4. Proposition.

Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ be the $`8`$-dimensional spin representation and $`V`$ is the standard $`7`$-dimensional representation of $`so(7)`$. Then:

$$^2\mathrm{\Gamma }=^2VV,S^2\mathrm{\Gamma }=^3V𝐂$$

is the decomposition of $`^2\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ in irreducible $`so(7)`$-representations, here $`𝐂`$ is a trivial one dimensional representation. Similarly:

$$^4\mathrm{\Gamma }^3V(S^2V)_0V𝐂,$$

where $`S^2V=(S^2V)_0Q`$.

Proof. The decomposition of $`^2\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ can be found as in \[FuHa\], sections 19.3 and 19.4. The decomposition of $`^4\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ follows from an easy explicit calculation which shows that both sides have the same weights and multiplicities. ∎

### 6.5. Corollary.

The dimensions of the spaces of Hodge classes on $`A`$ are:

$$dimB^1(A)=1,dimB^2(A)=6.$$

Moreover, $`End(A)`$ is four dimensional algebra over $`𝐐`$.

Proof. Note that $`H^2(A,𝐂)`$ is the $`so(7)`$-representation:

$$^2(\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Gamma })=\left(^2\mathrm{\Gamma }\right)^2(\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Gamma })=\left(^2\mathrm{\Gamma }\right)^3Sym^2(\mathrm{\Gamma }).$$

There are no $`so(7)`$-invariants in $`^2\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and there is one invariant in $`Sym^2\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ given by the quadratic form $`Q_sSym^2\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. Hence the Picard number of $`A`$ is $`dimB^1(A)=1`$. Furthermore, $`dimEnd(A)=4`$ (compute invariants in $`H^1(A)H^1(A)`$).

To determine $`dimB^2(A)`$, we decompose $`H^4(A,𝐂)`$:

$$^4(\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Gamma })=\left(^4\mathrm{\Gamma }\right)^2\left((^3\mathrm{\Gamma })\mathrm{\Gamma }\right)^2(^2\mathrm{\Gamma })(^2\mathrm{\Gamma }).$$

Since $`dim\left(^4\mathrm{\Gamma }\right)^{so(7)}=1`$ and $`^4\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is a summand of $`(^3\mathrm{\Gamma })\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and of $`(^2\mathrm{\Gamma })(^2\mathrm{\Gamma })`$, we find $`dimB^2(A)5`$. One can verify that $`dim(^2\mathrm{\Gamma }^2\mathrm{\Gamma })^{so(7)}=2`$ and $`dim\left((^3\mathrm{\Gamma })\mathrm{\Gamma }\right)^{so(7)}=1`$, hence $`dimB^2(A)=6`$. The program \[LiE\] may be helpfull here. ∎

### 6.6. Remark.

One can show that $`dimB^3(A)=6`$ and $`dimB^4(A)=16`$ for an abelian $`8`$-fold of $`so(7)`$ type.

### 6.7.

Since $`dimB^1(A)=1`$, we have $`B^1(A)=E`$ where $`E`$ is a polarization of $`A`$. The following lemma shows that if there exists an algebraic cycle on $`A`$ whose class $`c`$ is not in $`^2EB^2`$, then $`B^2(A)`$ is spanned by algebraic cycles.

### 6.8. Lemma.

Under the action of the multiplicative group $`End(A)^{}`$ of the quaternion algebra $`End(A)`$, the space $`B^2(A)`$ has two irreducible components, one of dimension $`1`$ (spanned by $`^2E`$ where $`B^1(A)=E`$) and the other is irreducible of dimension $`5`$ and will be denoted by $`B^2(A)_0`$:

$$B^2(A)=^2EB^2(A)_0.$$

Proof. Note that $`(End(A)𝐂)^{}GL(2,𝐂)`$, compatible with the splitting $`H^1(A,𝐂)=\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. Since the diagonal matrix $`h(t)=diag(t,t^1)`$ acts as $`t^4`$ on $`^4`$ of the first factor, $`GL(2,𝐂)`$ has an irreducible $`5`$-dimensional representation in $`B^2(A)𝐂`$. ∎

### 6.9. Theorem.

Let $`A`$ be an abelian $`8`$-fold of $`so(7)`$-type and assume that $`A`$ is isogenous to $`B^2`$ where $`B`$ is of Weil type for an imaginary quadratic field $`KF=End(A)`$.

If $`B^2(A)`$ is spanned by classes of algebraic cycles, then the Weil classes $`W_KB^2(B)`$ are classes of algebraic cycles.

Proof. Let $`E_B`$ be a polarization on $`B`$. Then

$$B^2(B)=^2E_BW_K$$

and the eigenvalue of $`xK^{}=End(B)^{}`$ on $`^2E_B`$ is $`(x\overline{x})^2`$ and its eigenvalues on $`W_K`$ are $`x^4`$ and $`\overline{x}^4`$. In particular, the two components of an algebraic cycle class in $`B^2(B)`$ are again algebraic cycle classes. To prove the theorem it thus suffices to show that the image of the composition

$$B^2(A)H^4(A,𝐐)\stackrel{\kappa }{}H^4(B_1,𝐐)H^0(B_2,𝐐)\stackrel{i_1^{}}{}H^4(B_1,𝐐)$$

is not contained in $`^2E_1B^2(B_1)`$, here $`\kappa `$ is obtained from the Künneth decomposition $`H^4(A)=H^i(B_1)H^{4i}(B_2)`$ (note that the Künneth components of an algebraic cycle on $`B_1\times B_2`$ are algebraic, use the endomorphisms $`(b,b^{})(nb,mb^{})`$ with $`n,m𝐙`$) and $`i_1:B_1B_1\times B_2`$, $`b(b,0)`$.

Recall that $`H^1(A,𝐂)\mathrm{\Gamma }_1\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$ with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_i\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, the spin representation fo $`so(7)`$, and that $`dim(^4\mathrm{\Gamma })^{so(7)}=1`$. Let

$$F=^4\mathrm{\Gamma }_1B^2(A)𝐂.$$

It suffices to show that $`F`$ has a non-trivial component in $`W_K𝐂H^4(B_1,𝐂)`$. As $`Hod(B_1)(𝐂)=SL(4,𝐂)`$ representations, we have $`H^1(B_1,𝐂)=W_1W_1^{}`$ and $`W_K𝐂=(^4W_1)(^4W_1^{})`$.

We now indicate a somewhat subtle point: $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$ does not restrict to $`W_1W_1^{}`$, but nevertheless, $`W_1`$ is an irreducible component of the restriction of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$.

For a general $`A`$ of $`so(7)`$-type, the $`𝐐`$-vector space $`H^1(A,𝐐)`$ is an irreducible $`Hod(A)`$-representation. The actions of $`Hod(A)`$ and $`F`$ commute and extend $`𝐂`$-linearly to the vector space $`H^1(A,𝐂)=H^1(A,𝐐)𝐂`$. The eigenvalues of the action of $`xK`$ on $`H^1(A,𝐐)`$ are $`\sigma (x)`$ and $`\overline{\sigma }(x)`$, hence we have the eigenspace decomposition:

$$H^1(A,𝐂)V_\sigma V_{\overline{\sigma }}\mathrm{with}V_\rho :=\{vH^1(A,𝐂):xv=\rho (x)v\}.$$

Since the action of $`K`$ commutes with the action of $`Hod(A)`$, each of these eigenspaces is a $`Hod(A)(𝐂)`$-representation and we will identify $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1=V_\sigma `$.

In case $`A`$ is isogenous to $`B^2`$, we get $`End(A)M_2(K)FK`$ and the center $`K`$ of $`M_2(K)`$ also acts on $`A`$. This leads to a further decomposition:

$$H^1(A,𝐂)W_{\sigma ,\sigma }W_{\sigma ,\overline{\sigma }}W_{\overline{\sigma },\sigma }W_{\overline{\sigma },\overline{\sigma }}$$

where, with $`xyKKFK`$:

$$W_{\rho ,\tau }:=\{vH^1(A,𝐂):(xy)v=\rho (x)\tau (y)vx,yK\}.$$

Note that $`x1`$ and $`1x`$ act in the same way on both $`W_{\sigma ,\sigma }`$ and $`W_{\overline{\sigma },\overline{\sigma }}`$, hence, with the notation of the proof of 5.3, we have:

$$H^1(B_1,𝐐)=W_{\sigma ,\sigma }W_{\overline{\sigma },\overline{\sigma }},V_1^+=W_{\sigma ,\sigma },V_1^{}=W_{\overline{\sigma },\overline{\sigma }}.$$

Note that $`W_{\overline{\sigma },\overline{\sigma }}`$ is not contained in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1=V_\sigma `$. Thus the $`so(7)`$-representation $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ restricts to the $`so(6)=sl(4)`$-representation $`WW^{}`$ and, although this representation is isomorphic to $`H^1(B,𝐂)`$, we actually have:

$$H^1(B_1,𝐂)=W_1W_2^{},H^1(B_2,𝐂)=W_1^{}W_2$$

where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_i`$ restricts to $`W_iW_i^{}`$. In any case, we have to verify that the $`so(7)`$-invariant $`F^4\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$ has a non-trivial component in $`^4W_1`$.

We use the explicit description of the spin representation given in \[FuHa\]. Let $`Q=x_7^2+_{i=1}^3x_ix_{i+3}`$ be the quadratic form on $`𝐂^7`$ defining $`so(7)`$. Let $`R=e_1,e_2,e_3`$, then $`R`$ is an isotropic subspace of $`Q`$, and let

$$S=_{i=0}^3^iR𝐂^8.$$

The spin representation of $`so(7)`$ is realized on $`S`$. A basis of weight vectors of $`S`$ is given by the

$$e_I=e_{i_1}\mathrm{}e_{i_k}\mathrm{if}I=\{i_1,\mathrm{},i_k\}\{1,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}\},i_1<\mathrm{}<i_k,$$

in fact, $`e_I`$ has weight $`(1/2)(_{iI}L_i_{jI}L_j)`$ (\[FuHa\], proof of Prop. 20.20). Since an invariant has weight $`0`$, $`F`$ must lie in the weight $`0`$-subspace of $`^4\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ which has dimension $`8`$.

Using the isomorphism $`so(7)^2𝐂^7`$, the spin representation $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is realized on $`S`$ by explicit formulas (cf. \[FuHa\], lemma 20.16), for example:

$$(e_ie_7)e_I=(1)^\mathrm{}Ie_ie_I(1i3)$$

where $`\mathrm{}I`$ is the cardinality of $`I`$. It is then very easy (but a bit tedious) to check that the only element in the weight $`0`$-subspace which is mapped to zero by the $`e_ie_7`$ ($`1i3`$) are the scalar multiples of:

$$2e_{\mathrm{}}e_{\{1,2\}}e_{\{1,3\}}e_{\{2,3\}}e_{\mathrm{}}e_{\{3\}}e_{\{1,2\}}e_{\{1,2,3\}}+e_{\mathrm{}}e_{\{2\}}e_{\{1,3\}}e_{\{1,2,3\}}e_{\mathrm{}}e_{\{1\}}e_{\{2,3\}}e_{\{1,2,3\}}+$$

$$e_{\{2\}}e_{\{3\}}e_{\{1,2\}}e_{\{1,3\}}e_{\{1\}}e_{\{3\}}e_{\{1,2\}}e_{\{1,3\}}+e_{\{1\}}e_{\{2\}}e_{\{1,3\}}e_{\{2,3\}}+2e_{\{1\}}e_{\{2\}}e_{\{3\}}e_{\{1,2,3\}}.$$

Hence this is the $`SO(7)`$-invariant in $`^4\mathrm{\Gamma }`$.

The $`SO(6)`$-subrepresentations in $`S`$ (where $`SO(6)`$ acts on $`e_1,\mathrm{},e_6𝐂^7`$) are

$$W^{even}R,W^{}^{odd}R.$$

The $`so(7)`$-invariant given above has a non-trivial component $`e_{\mathrm{}}e_{\{1,2\}}e_{\{1,3\}}e_{\{2,3\}}^4W`$, hence the theorem follows. ∎