Let X be a smooth curve defined over the real numbers.
Classical calculations dating to 1883 clearly show the relation between
the Picard group of X (hence K_0X) and the two topological invariants of the
underlying space X(R) of real points of X: the number of connected
components and the number of loops of X(R); these coincide if X is projective.
In this paper we show that if n>0 the groups K_n(X) are the direct sum of
a divisible group and an elementary abelian 2-group. We also compute the
torsion subgroup explicitly; it is periodic of period 8. The rank of the
elementary 2-group is determined by the topological invariants, and
whether or not X is projective. The divisible torsion is a finite sum
of copies of (Q/Z), determined by the genus and the number of real and complex
points at infinity.
The methods use motivic cohomology and the spectral sequence of
Friedlander and Suslin. The results show that (with finite coefficients)
the K-groups of X coincide with Atiyah's Real K-theory of the space
with involution X(C), including K_0.
This paper has appeared in K-theory 27 (2002), 1-31.