We generalize well known properties of points of order 3 on elliptic curves to the case of torsion points of order 2g+1 on genus g hyperelliptic curves. This is a report on a joint work with Boris Bekker (StPetersburg).

Let k be a perfect field of characteristic p > 0 and W the ring of Witt vectors of k. In this talk, we give a new proof of the Frobenius descent for convergent isocrystals on a variety over k relative to W. This proof allows us to deduce an analogue of the de Rham complexes comparison theorem of Berthelot without assuming a lifting of the Frobenius morphism. As an application, we prove a version of Berthelot's conjecture on the preservation of convergent isocrystals under the higher direct image by a smooth proper morphism of k-varieties in the context of Ogus' convergent topos.

Wan conjectured that the variation of zeta functions along towers of curves associated to the $p$-adic etale cohomology of a fibration of smooth proper ordinary varieties should satisfy several stabilizing properties. The most basic of these conjectures state that the genera of the curves in these towers grow in a regular way. We state and prove a generalization of this conjecture, which applies to the graded pieces of the slope filtration of an overconvergent $F$-isocrystal. Along the way, we develop a theory of $F$-isocrystals with logarithmic decay and provide a new proof of the Drinfeld-Kedlaya theorem for curves.

A Teichmuller curve is a totally geodesic curve in the moduli space of Riemann surfaces. These curves are defined by polynomials with integer coefficients that are irreducible over C.  We will show that these polynomials have surprising factorizations mod p.  This is joint work with Keerthi Madapusi Pera.