On the distribution of the rational points on cyclic covers in the absence of roots of unity

In this paper we study the number of rational points on curves in an ensemble of abelian covers of the projective line: Let $\ell$ be a prime, $q$ a prime power and consider the ensemble $\mathcal{H}_{g,\ell}$ of $\ell$-cyclic covers of $\mathbb{P}^1_{\mathbb{F}_q}$ of genus $g$. We assume that $q\not\equiv 0,1\mod \ell$. If $2g+2\ell-2\not\equiv0\mod (\ell-1){\rm ord}_\ell(q)$, then $\mathcal{H}_{g,\ell}$ is empty. Otherwise, the number of rational points on a random curve in $\mathcal{H}_{g,\ell}$ distributes as $\sum_{i=1}^{q+1} X_i$ as $g\to \infty$, where $X_1,\ldots, X_{q+1}$ are i.i.d.\ random variables taking the values $0$ and $\ell$ with probabilities $\frac{\ell-1}{\ell}$ and $\frac{1}{\ell}$, respectively. The novelty of our result is that it works in the absence of a primitive $\ell$-th-root of unity, the presence of which was crucial in previous studies.