Topic summary

Local zeta function

Local zeta function

In mathematics, the local zeta functionZ(Vs) (sometimes called the congruent zeta function or the Hasse–Weil zeta function) is defined as

where V is a non-singularn-dimensional projective algebraic variety over the field Fq with q elements and Nk is the number of points of V defined over the finite field extension Fq of Fq.

Making the variable transformation t = q, gives

as the formal power series in the variable .

Equivalently, the local zeta function is sometimes defined as follows:

In other words, the local zeta function Z(Vt) with coefficients in the finite fieldFq is defined as a function whose logarithmic derivative generates the number Nk of solutions of the equation defining V in the degree k extension Fq.