Genus Stability of $\mathbb Z_p^\times$-Towers

Abstract: Let $p$ be a prime. Consider a tower of smooth projective geometrically irreducible curves over $\mathbb F_p$, $\mathscr C:\cdots\rightarrow C_n\rightarrow\cdots\rightarrow C_1\rightarrow C_0=\mathbb P^1$ whose Galois group is isomorphic to $\mathbb Z_p^\times$. In this paper, we study genus growth of the tower $\mathscr C$ and determine all the $\mathbb Z_p^\times$-towers with genus be a quadratic equation of $p^{n}$ when $n$ is sufficiently large.