In algebraic geometry, a semistable abelian variety is an abelian variety defined over a global or local field, which is characterized by how it reduces at the primes of the field.
For an abelian variety
defined over a field
with ring of integers
, consider the Néron model of
, which is a 'best possible' model of
defined over
. This model may be represented as a scheme over
(cf. spectrum of a ring) for which the generic fibre constructed by means of the morphism
gives back
. The Néron model is a smooth group scheme, so we can consider
, the connected component of the Néron model which contains the identity for the group law. This is an open subgroup scheme of the Néron model. For a residue field
,
is a group variety over
, hence an extension of an abelian variety by a linear group. If this linear group is an algebraic torus, so that
is a semiabelian variety, then
has semistable reduction at the prime corresponding to
. If
is a global field, then
is semistable if it has good or semistable reduction at all primes.