Every finite abelian group is the group of rational points of an ordinary abelian variety over 𝔽₂, 𝔽₃ and 𝔽₅

We show that every finite abelian group occurs as the group of rational points of an ordinary abelian variety over F 2 \mathbb {F}_2 , F 3 \mathbb {F}_3 and F 5 \mathbb {F}_5 . We produce partial results for abelian varieties over a general finite field F q \mathbb {F}_q . In particular, we show that certain abelian groups cannot occur as groups of rational points of abelian varieties over F q \mathbb {F}_q when q q is large. Finally, we show that every finite cyclic group arises as the group of rational points of infinitely many simple abelian varieties over F 2 \mathbb {F}_2 .