In this paper we give a method for calculating the rank of a general elliptic curve over the field of rational functions in two variables. We reduce this problem to calculating the cohomology of a singular hypersurface in a weighted projective 4-space. We then give a method for calculating the cohomology of a certain class of singular hypersurfaces, extending work of Dimca for the isolated singularity case.
Mordell-Weil groups of different abelian fibrations of a hyperkähler manifold may have non-trivial relation even among elements of infinite order, but have essentially no relation, as its birational transformation. Precise definition of the terms "essentially no relation" will be given in Introduction.
From the product of two elliptic curves, Shioda and Inose constructed an elliptic $K3$ surface having two $\mathrm{II}^*$ fibers. Its Mordell-Weil lattice structure depends on the morphisms between the two elliptic curves. In this paper, we give a method of writing down generators of the Mordell-Weil lattice of such elliptic surfaces when two elliptic curves are $3$-isogenous. In particular, we obtain a basis of the Mordell-Weil lattice for the singular $K3$ surfaces $X_{[3,3,3]}$, $X_{[3,2,3]}$ and $X_{[3,0,3]}$.
In this paper we investigate linear dependence of points in Mordell-Weil groups of abelian varieties via reduction maps. In particular we try to determine the conditions for detecting linear dependence in Mordell-Weil groups via finite number of reductions.
We show that the Mordell Weil rank of an isotrivial abelian variety with a cyclic holonomy depends only on the fundamental group of the complement to the discriminant provided the discriminant has singularities in the introduced here CM class. This class of singularities includes all unibranched plane curves singularities. As a corollary we give a family of simple Jacobians over field of rational functions in two variable for which the Mordell Weil rank is arbitrary large.
We prove that the elliptic surface y^2=x^3+2(t^8+14t^4+1)x+4t^2(t^8+6t^4+1) has geometric Mordell-Weil rank 15. This completes a list of Kuwata, who gave explicit examples of elliptic K3-surfaces with geometric Mordell-Weil rank 0,1,..., 14, 16, 17,18.
In this paper we prove a special case of the Lehmer inequality for Drinfeld modules. Also, based on this inequality, we prove certain Mordell-Weil type of theorems for certain infinitely generated fields.
In this paper we establish a Hasse principle concerning the linear dependence over $\Z$ of nontorsion points in the Mordell-Weil group of an abelian variety over a number field.
We prove results on the Mordell--Weil rank of elliptic curves $y^2=x(x-αa^2)(x-βb^2)$ parametrized by binary quadratic forms $αa^2+βb^2=γc^2$. We express our explicit lower bounds over number fields and offer a detailed description of the corresponding Mordell-Weil group structure in the function field case.
We extend results of Cogolludo-Agustin and Libgober relating the Alexander polynomial of a plane curve $C$ with the Mordell--Weil rank of certain isotrivial families of jacobians over $\mathbf{P}^2$ of discriminant $C$. In the second part we introduce a height pairing on the $(2,3,6)$ quasi-toric decompositions of a plane curve. We use this pairing and the results in the first part of the paper to construct a pair of degree 12 curves with 30 cusps and Alexander polynomial $t^2-t+1$, but with distinct height pairing. We use the height pairing to show that these curves from a Zariski pair.
We study the variation of Mordell-Weil ranks in the Jacobians of curves in a pro-p tower over a fixed number field. In particular, we show that under mild conditions the Mordell-Weil rank of a Jacobian in the tower is bounded above by a constant multiple of its dimension. In the case of the tower of Fermat curves, we show that the constant can be taken arbitrarily close to 1. The main result is used in the forthcoming paper of Guillermo Mantilla-Soler on the Mordell-Weil rank of the modular Jacobian J(Np^m).
We describe two constructions of elliptic K3 surfaces starting from the Kummer surface of the Jacobian of a genus 2 curve. These parallel the base-change constructions of Kuwata for the Kummer surface of a product of two elliptic curves. One of these also involves the analogue of an Inose fibration. We use these methods to provide explicit examples of elliptic K3 surfaces over the rationals of geometric Mordell-Weil rank 15.
Let $V$ be a plane smooth cubic curve over a finitely generated field $k.$ The Mordell-Weil theorem for $V$ states that there is a finite subset $P\subset V(k)$ such that the whole $V(k)$ can be obtained from $P$ by drawing secants and tangents through pairs of previously constructed points and consecutively adding their new intersection points with $V.$ Equivalently, the group of birational transformations of $V$ generated by reflections with respect to $k$-points is finitely generated. In this paper, elaborating an idea from [M3], we establish a Mordell-Weil type finite generation result for…
In this paper, we introduce the terminology of matroids into the study of Zariski-pairs related to rational elliptic surfaces, aiming to simplify the presentation and arguments involved. As an application, we provide new examples of Zariski $N$-ples of relatively low degree. Namely we show that a Zariski 102-ple of degree 18 exists.
Drawing the secant through two rational points of a cubic surface we can get the third one. Is the set of rational points finitely generated? We discuss some numerical data and prove a finite generation statement with respect to a modified composition law.
Let V be a plane smooth cubic curve over a finitely generated field k. The Mordell-Weil theorem for V states that there is a finite subset P \subset V(k) such that the whole V(k) can be obtained from P by drawing secants and tangents through pairs of previously constructed points and consecutively adding their new intersection points with V. In this paper we present numerical data regarding the analogous statement for cubic surfaces. For the surfaces examined, we also test Manin's conjecture relating the asymptotics of rational points of bounded height on a Fano variety with the rank of the Pi…
We use Hodge theory to prove a new upper bound on the ranks of Mordell-Weil groups for elliptic curves over function fields after regular geometrically Galois extensions of the base field, improving on previous results of Silverman and Ellenberg, when the base field has characteristic zero and the supports of the conductor of the elliptic curve and of the ramification divisor of the extension are disjoint.
Consider an ordinary elliptic curve $E_b\!: y^2 = x^3 - b$ (of $j$-invariant $0$) over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_{\!q}$ such that $\sqrt[3]{b} \notin \mathbb{F}_{\!q}$. This article tries to resolve the problem of constructing a rational $\mathbb{F}_{\!q}$-curve on the Kummer surface of the direct product $E_b \!\times\! E_b^\prime$, where $E_b^\prime$ is the quadratic $\mathbb{F}_{\!q}$-twist of $E_b$. More precisely, we propose to search such a curve among infinite order $\mathbb{F}_{\!q}$-sections of some elliptic surface of $j=0$, analyzing its Mordell--Weil group. Unfortunately, we prove…
In the first paper of this series, we constructed a family of lattices in dimensions 2^{n+1} for positive integers n, and proved that the associated lattice packings of spheres equal or exceed the previous records for several values of n. In this paper we analyze the case n=6, which is now the first case where the resulting lattice MW128 yields a previously unknown lattice of record density. We prove that the elliptic curve used to construct this lattice has trivial Tate-Shafarevich group, and exhibit on that curve a rational point whose canonical height attains our lower bound on the minimal …
Using the Shioda-Tate theorem and an adaptation of Silverman's specialization theorem, we reduce the specialization of Mordell-Weil ranks for abelian varieties over fields finitely generated over infinite finitely generated fields $k$ to the the specialization theorem for Néron-Severi ranks recently proved by Ambrosi in positive characteristic. More precisely, we prove that after a blow-up of the base surface $S$, for all vertical curves $S_x$ of a fibration $S \to U \subseteq \mathbf{P}^1_k$ with $x$ from the complement of a sparse subset of $|U|$, the Mordell-Weil rank of an abelian scheme o…
We discuss the distribution of Mordell--Weil ranks of the family of elliptic curves $y^2=(x+αf^2)(x+βb g^2)(x+γh^2)$ where $f,g,h$ are coprime polynomials that parametrize the projective smooth conic $a^2+b^2=c^2$ and $α,β,γ$ are elements from $\overline{\mathbb{Q}}$. In our previous papers we discussed certain special cases of this problem and in this article we complete the picture by proving the general results.
We use methods for computing Picard numbers of reductions of K3 surfaces in order to study the decomposability of Jacobians over number fields and the variance of Mordell-Weil ranks of families of Jacobians over different ground fields. For example, we give examples of surfaces whose Picard numbers jump in rank at all primes of good reduction using Mordell-Weil groups of Jacobians and show that the genus of curves over number fields whose Jacobians are isomorphic to a product of elliptic curves satisfying certain reduction conditions is bounded. The isomorphism result addresses the number fiel…
We study the arithmetic of abelian varieties over $K=k(t)$ where $k$ is an arbitrary field. The main result relates Mordell-Weil groups of certain Jacobians over $K$ to homomorphisms of other Jacobians over $k$. Our methods also yield completely explicit points on elliptic curves with unbounded rank over $\Fpbar(t)$ and a new construction of elliptic curves with moderately high rank over $\C(t)$.
Bounds on the Mordell-Weil rank of elliptic fibrations
Università di Bologna（博洛尼亚大学）；INFN（意大利国家核物理研究所）；University of Pennsylvania（宾夕法尼亚大学）；Colorado State University（科罗拉多州立大学）；Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali（印度科学教育与研究学院，穆哈利分校）；University at Buffalo - SUNY（纽约州立大学布法罗分校）；Universität Hamburg（汉堡大学）
Periodic points are points on Veech surfaces, whose orbit under the group of affine diffeomorphisms is finite. We characterise those points as being torsion points if the Veech surfaces is suitably mapped to its Jacobian or an appropriate factor thereof. For a primitive Veech surface in genus two we show that the only periodic points are the Weierstrass points and the singularities. Our main tool is the Hodge-theoretic characterisation of Teichmueller curves. We deduce from it a finiteness result for the Mordell-Weil group of the family of Jacobians over a Teichmueller curve.
Let $k$ be a number field and $U$ a smooth integral $k$-variety. Let $X \to U$ be an abelian scheme. We consider the set $\mathcal{R}$ of rational points $m \in U(k)$ such that the Mordell-Weil rank of the fibre $U_{m}$ is strictly bigger than the Mordell-Weil rank of the generic fibre. We prove the following results. If the $k$-variety $X$ is $k$-unirational, then $\mathcal{R}$ is dense for the Zariski topology on $U$. If $X$ is $k$-rational, then $\mathcal{R}$ is not thin in $U$. This generalizes results of Billard and of Salgado. The main idea goes back to Néron's thesis: use the generic po…
We study the family of elliptic curves $y^2=x(x-a^2)(x-b^2)$ parametrized by Pythagorean triples $(a,b,c)$. We prove that for a generic triple the lower bound of the rank of the Mordell-Weil group over $\mathbb{Q}$ is 1, and for some explicitly given infinite family the rank is 2. To each family we attach an elliptic surface fibered over the projective line. We show that the lower bounds for the rank are optimal, in the sense that for each generic fiber of such an elliptic surface its corresponding Mordell-Weil group over the function field $\mathbb{Q}(t)$ has rank 1 or 2, respectively. In ord…
In this paper, we study rational sections of the relative Picard scheme of a linear system on a smooth projective variety. We prove that if the linear system is basepoint-free and the locus of non-integral divisors has codimension at least two, then all rational sections of the relative Picard scheme come from restrictions of line bundles on the variety. As a consequence, we describe the group of sections of the Hitchin fibration for moduli spaces of Higgs bundles on curves.
To a pair of elliptic curves, one can naturally attach two K3 surfaces: the Kummer surface of their product and a double cover of it, called the Inose surface. They have prominently featured in many interesting constructions in algebraic geometry and number theory. There are several more associated elliptic K3 surfaces, obtained through base change of the Inose surface; these have been previously studied by Kuwata. We give an explicit description of the geometric Mordell-Weil groups of each of these elliptic surfaces in the generic case (when the elliptic curves are non-isogenous). In the non-…
If E is a non-isotrivial elliptic curve over a global function field F of odd characteristic we show that certain Mordell-Weil groups of E have 1-dimensional eigenspace relative to a fixed complex ring class character provided that the projection onto this eigenspace of a suitable Drinfeld-Heegner point is nonzero. This represents the analogue in the function field setting of a theorem for rational elliptic curves due to Bertolini and Darmon, and at the same time is a generalization of the main result proved by Brown in his monograph on Heegner modules. As in the number field case, our proof e…
We present the first examples of smooth elliptic Calabi-Yau threefolds with Mordell-Weil rank 10, the highest currently known value. They are given by the Schoen threefolds introduced by Namikawa; there are six isolated fibers of Kodaira Type IV. We explicitly compute the Shioda homomorphism for the generators of the Mordell-Weil group and their induced height pairing. Compactification of F-theory on these threefolds gives an effective theory in six dimensions which contains ten abelian gauge group factors. We compute the massless matter spectrum. In particular, we show that the charged single…
Let $f: W \rightarrow T$ be an elliptic threefold that is a Weierstrass model, which is locally defined by $y^2 = x^3 + fx + g$ over $T$, with a singular fiber such that $(f,g,4f^3 + 27g^2)$ vanishes of order $(4,6,12)$ over an isolated point over $T$. Such a fiber can be explicitly resolved to fibers with smaller vanishing order and the resulting model, $Y$, contains a rational elliptic surface, $S$, where some sections of $S$ are flopping curves on $Y$. As a consequence of this arithmetic and geometric connection, we are able to describe some constraints between flops of $Y$ and the properti…
Let $X$ be a smooth cubic hypersurface of dimension $n \ge 1$ over the rationals. It is well-known that new rational points may be obtained from old ones by secant and tangent constructions. In view of the Mordell--Weil theorem for $n=1$, Manin (1968) asked if there exists a finite set $S$ from which all other rational points can be thus obtained. We give an affirmative answer for $n \ge 48$, showing in fact that we can take the generating set $S$ to consist of just one point. Our proof makes use of a weak approximation theorem due to Skinner, a theorem of Browning, Dietmann and Heath-Brown on…
We compute characteristic numbers of elliptically fibered fourfolds with multisections or non-trivial Mordell-Weil groups. We first consider the models of type E$_{9-d}$ with $d=1,2,3,4$ whose generic fibers are normal elliptic curves of degree $d$. We then analyze the characteristic numbers of the $Q_7$-model, which provides a smooth model for elliptic fibrations of rank one and generalizes the E$_5$, E$_6$, and E$_7$-models. Finally, we examine the characteristic numbers of $G$-models with $G=\text{SO}(n)$ with $n=3,4,5,6$ and $G=\text{PSU}(3)$ whose Mordell-Weil groups are respectively $\ma…
A central problem in Diophantine geometry is to uniformly bound the number of $K$-rational points on a smooth curve $X/K$ in terms of $K$ and its genus $g$. A recent paper by Stoll proved uniform bounds for the number of $K$-rational points on a hyperelliptic curve $X$ provided that the rank of the Jacobian of $X$ is at most $g - 3$. Katz, Rabinoff and Zureick-Brown generalized his result to arbitrary curves satisfying the same rank condition. In this paper, we prove conditional uniform bounds on the number of rational points on the symmetric square of $X$ outside its algebraic special set, pr…
We explore how introducing a non-trivial Mordell-Weil group changes the structure of the Coulomb phases of a five-dimensional gauge theory from an M-theory compactified on an elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds with a I$_2$+I$_4$ collision of singularities. The resulting gauge theory has a semi-simple Lie algebra $\mathfrak{su}(2)\oplus \mathfrak{sp}(4)$ or $\mathfrak{su}(2)\oplus \mathfrak{su}(4)$. We compute topological invariants relevant for the physics, such as the Euler characteristic, Hodge numbers, and triple intersection numbers. We determine the matter representation geometric…
We introduce the use of $p$-descent techniques for elliptic surfaces over a perfect field of characteristic not $2$ or $3$. Under mild hypotheses, we obtain an upper bound for the rank of a non-constant elliptic surface. When $p=2$, this bound is an arithmetic refinement of a well-known geometric bound for the rank deduced from Igusa's inequality. This answers a question raised by Ulmer. We give some applications to rank bounds for elliptic surfaces over the rational numbers.
Let S be a smooth cubic surface over a field K. It is well-known that new K-rational points may be obtained from old ones by secant and tangent constructions. A Mordell-Weil generating set is a subset B of S(K) of minimal cardinality which generates S(K) via successive secant and tangent constructions. Let r(S,K) be the cardinality of such a Mordell-Weil generating set. Manin posed what is known as the Mordell-Weil problem for cubic surfaces: if K is finitely generated over its prime subfield then r(S,K) is finite. In this paper, we prove a special case of this conjecture. Namely, if S contain…
Let $E$ be an elliptic surface over the curve $C$, defined over a number field $k$, let $P$ be a section of $E$, and let $\ell$ be a rational prime. For any non-singular fibre $E_t$, we bound the number of points $Q$ on $E_t$ of (algebraic) degree at most $D$ over $k$, such that $\ell^n Q=P_t$, for some $n\geq 1$. The bound obtained depends only on $\ell$, the surface and section in question, $D$, and the degree $[k(t):k]$; that is, it is uniform across all fibres of bounded degree. In special cases, we obtain more specific, in some instances sharp, bounds.
Let $Σ$ be a smooth projective surface, let $f' : S' \to Σ$ be a double cover of $Σ$ and let $μ: S \to S'$ be the canonical resolution. Put $f = f'\circμ$. An irreducible curve $C$ on $Σ$ is said to be a splitting curve with respect to $f$ if $f^*C$ is of the form $C^+ + C^- + E$, where $C^- = σ_f^*C^+$, $σ_f$ being the covering transformation of $f$ and all irreducible components of $E$ are contained in the exceptional set of $μ$. In this article, we show that a kind of "reciprocity" of splitting curves holds for a certain pair of curves on rational ruled surfaces. As an application, we consi…
We show that the degree of the Alexander polynomial of an irreducible plane algebraic curve with nodes and cusps as the only singularities does not exceed ${5 \over 3}d-2$ where $d$ is the degree of the curve. We also show that the Alexander polynomial $Δ_C(t)$ of an irreducible curve $C=\{F=0\}\subset \mathbb P^2$ whose singularities are nodes and cusps is non-trivial if and only if there exist homogeneous polynomials $f$, $g$, and $h$ such that $f^3+g^2+Fh^6=0$. This is obtained as a consequence of the correspondence, described here, between Alexander polynomials and ranks of Mordell-Weil gr…
We introduce a new model for elliptic fibrations endowed with a Mordell-Weil group of rank one. We call it a Q$_7(\mathscr{L},\mathscr{S})$ model. It naturally generalizes several previous models of elliptic fibrations popular in the F-theory literature. The model is also explicitly smooth, thus relevant physical quantities can be computed in terms of topological invariants in straight manner. Since the general fiber is defined by a cubic curve, basic arithmetic operations on the curve can be done using the chord-tangent group law. We will use this model to determine the spectrum of singular f…
We show that there is a bound depending only on g and [K:Q] for the number of K-rational points on a hyperelliptic curve C of genus g over a number field K such that the Mordell-Weil rank r of its Jacobian is at most g-3. If K = Q, an explicit bound is 8 r g + 33 (g - 1) + 1. The proof is based on Chabauty's method; the new ingredient is an estimate for the number of zeros of a logarithm in a p-adic `annulus' on the curve, which generalizes the standard bound on disks. The key observation is that for a p-adic field k, the set of k-points on C can be covered by a collection of disks and annuli …
An arithmetic method of proving the irrationality of smooth projective 3-folds is described, using reduction modulo $p$. It is illustrated by an application to a cubic threefold, for which the hypothesis that its intermediate Jacobian is isomorphic to the Jacobian of a curve is contradicted by reducing modulo 3 and counting points over appropriate extensions of $\mathbb F_3$. As a spin-off, it is shown that the 5-dimensional Prym varieties arising as intermediate Jacobians of certain cubic 3-folds have the maximal number of points over $\mathbb F_q$ which attains Perret's and Weil's upper boun…
Over the past two years we have improved several of the (Mordell-Weil) rank records for elliptic curves over Q and nonconstant elliptic curves over Q(t). For example, we found the first example of a curve E/Q with 28 independent points P_i in E(Q) (the previous record was 24, by R.Martin and W.McMillen 2000), and the first example of a curve over Q with Mordell-Weil group isomorphic with (Z/2Z) x Z^18 (the previous rank record for a curve with a 2-torsion point was 15, by Dujella 2002). In these lectures we give some of the background, theory, and computational tools that led to these new reco…
