AIM Workshop — Degree d points on algebraic surfaces

The study of degree d points on algebraic curves over ℚ is a rich and mature area of research, with the Abel-Jacobi map and the Mordell-Lang conjecture providing powerful tools for exploration. However, for higher dimensional varieties there is no such approach that works in general. Because of this, we lack even a conjectural framework for understanding which higher dimensional varieties over ℚ should have "many" degree d points. The workshop will focus on questions aimed at addressing this dearth, concentrating on the case of algebraic surfaces. For instance, what does it mean for a surface over ℚ to have "many" degree d points? What are some geometric constructions that give rise to abundant degree d points? Are these related to geometric measures of irrationality? If HilbdX has a Zariski dense set of ℚ-points for some small d, does that yield any arithmetic or geometric consequences for X? If X embeds into its Albanese, can we obtain results analogous to that of curves?