In this paper we study genus-4 curves obtained as double covers of elliptic curves. Firstly we shall give explicit defining equations of such curves with explicit criterion for whether it is nonsingular, and show the irreducibility of the long polynomial determining whether the genus-4 curve is nonsingular or not, in any characteristic ≠ 2 , 3 . Secondly, as an application, we enumerate superspecial genus-4 double covers of elliptic curves in small characteristic.

In algebraic geometry, it is important to provide effective parametrizations for families of curves, both in theory and in practice. In this paper, we present such an effective parametrization for the moduli of genus-5 curves that are neither hyperelliptic nor trigonal. Subsequently, we construct an algorithm for a complete enumeration of non-special genus-5 curves having more rational points than a specified threshold, where “non-special curve” means that the curve is non-hyperelliptic and non-trigonal with mild singularities of the associated sextic model that we propose. As a practical application, we implement this algorithm using the computer algebra system MAGMA, specifically for curves over the prime field of characteristic 3.