In this paper we study genus $2$ curves whose Jacobians admit a polarized $(4,4)$-isogeny to a product of elliptic curves. We consider base fields of characteristic different from $2$ and $3$, which we do not assume to be algebraically closed. We obtain a full classification of all principally polarized abelian surfaces that can arise from gluing two elliptic curves along their $4$-torsion, and we derive the relation their absolute invariants satisfy. As an intermediate step, we give a general description of Richelot isogenies between Jacobians of genus $2$ curves, where previously only Richelot isogenies with kernels that are pointwise defined over the base field were considered. Our main tool is a Galois theoretic characterization of genus $2$ curves admitting multiple Richelot isogenies.

S. Stahl conjectured that the zeros of genus polynomials are real. In this note, we disprove this conjecture.

We give an explicit treatment of cubic function fields of characteristic at least five. This includes an efficient technique for converting such a field into standard form, formulae for the field discriminant and the genus, simple necessary and sufficient criteria for non-singularity of the defining curve, and a characterization of all triangular integral bases. Our main result is a description of the signature of any rational place in a cubic extension that involves only the defining curve and the order of the base field. All these quantities only require simple polynomial arithmetic as well as a few square-free polynomial factorizations and, in some cases, square and cube root extraction modulo an irreducible polynomial. We also illustrate why and how signature computation plays an important role in computing the class number of the function field. This in turn has applications to the study of zeros of zeta functions of function fields.

We define a family of formal Khovanov brackets of a colored link depending on two parameters. The isomorphism classes of these brackets are invariants of framed colored links. The Bar-Natan functors applied to these brackets produce Khovanov and Lee homology theories categorifying the colored Jones polynomial. Further, we study conditions under which framed colored link cobordisms induce chain transformations between our formal brackets. We conjecture that for special choice of parameters, Khovanov and Lee homology theories of colored links are functorial (up to sign). Finally, we extend the Rasmussen invariant to links and give examples where this invariant is a stronger obstruction to sliceness than the multivariable Levine--Tristram signature.

S. Stahl (Canad. J. Math. \textbf{49}(1997), no. 3, 617--640) conjectured that the zeros of genus polynomial are real. L. Liu and Y. Wang disproved this conjecture on the basis of Example 6.7. In this note, it is pointed out that there is an error in this example and a new generating matrix and initial vector are provided.

Let $X$ be a smooth projective surface over the complex number field and let $L$ be a nef-big divisor on $X$. Here we consider the following conjecture; If the Kodaira dimension $\kappa(X)\geq 0$, then $K_{X}L\geq 2q(X)-4$, where $q(X)$ is the irregularity of $X$. In this paper, we prove that this conjecture is true if (1) the case in which $\kappa(X)=0$ or $1$, (2) the case in which $\kappa(X)=2$ and $h^{0}(L)\geq 2$, or (3) the case in which $\kappa(X)=2$, $X$ is minimal, $h^{0}(L)=1$, and $L$ satisfies some conditions.