Given an elliptic curve E over a number field k, the Galois action on the torsion points of E induces a Galois representation, ρ_E : Gal(\bar{k}/k) \to GL_2(\hat{Z}). For a fixed number field k, we describe the image of ρ_E for a "random" elliptic curve E over k. In particular, if k\neq Q is linearly disjoint from the cyclotomic extension of Q, then ρ_E will be surjective for "most" elliptic curves over k.
We prove that, on average, elliptic curves over Q have finitely many primes p for which they possess a p-adic point of order p. We include a discussion of applications to companion forms and the deformation theory of Galois representations.
We construct algebras of endomorphisms in the derived category of the cohomology of arithmetic manifolds, which are generated by Hecke operators. We construct Galois representations with coefficients in these Hecke algebras and apply this technique to sharpen recent results of P. Scholze.
Let $ρ$ be a mod $\ell$ Galois representation. We show how to compute $ρ$, given the characteristic polynomial of the image of the Frobenius at one prime $p$ and a curve $C$ whose Jacobian contains $ρ$ in its $\ell$-torsion. The main ingredient is a method to $p$-adically lift torsion points on a Jacobian in the framework of Makdisi's algorithms.
Let $E$ be an elliptic curve defined over $\mathbb{Q}$, and let $K$ be a number field of degree four that is Galois over $\mathbb{Q}$. The goal of this article is to classify the different isomorphism types of $E(K)_{\text{tors}}$.
We introduce a method for producing congruences between Hecke eigenclasses, possibly torsion, in the coherent cohomology of automorphic vector bundles on certain good reduction Shimura varieties. The congruences are produced using some "generalized Hasse invariants" adapted to the Ekedahl-Oort stratification of the special fiber.
We find a tight relationship between the torsion subgroup and the image of the mod 2 Galois representation associated to an elliptic curve defined over the rationals. This is shown using some characterizations for the squareness of the discriminant of the elliptic curve.
Let $F$ be a totally real number field and let $p$ be a prime unramified in $F$. We prove the existence of Galois pseudo-representations attached to mod $p^m$ Hecke eigenclasses of paritious weight occurring in the coherent cohomology of Hilbert modular varieties for $F$ of level prime to $p$.
To each Drinfeld module over a finitely generated field with generic characteristic, one can associate a Galois representation arising from the Galois action on its torsion points. Recent work of Pink and Rütsche has described the image of this representation up to commensurability. Their theorem is qualitative, and the objective of this paper is to complement this theory with a worked out example. In particular, we give examples of Drinfeld modules of rank 2 for which the Galois action on their torsion points is as large as possible. We will follow the approach that Serre used to give explici…
Fix a positive integer $g$ and rational prime $p$. We prove the existence of a genus $g$ curve $C/\mathbb{Q}$ such that the mod $p$ representation of its Jacobian is tame by imposing conditions on the endomorphism ring. As an application, we consider the tame inverse Galois problem and are able to realise general symplectic groups as Galois groups of tame extensions of $\mathbb{Q}$.
We prove several results on torsion points and Galois representations for complex multiplication (CM) elliptic curves over a number field containing the CM field. One result computes the degree in which such an elliptic curve has a rational point of order $N$, refining results of Silverberg. Another result bounds the size of the torsion subgroup of an elliptic curve with CM by a nonmaximal order in terms of the torsion subgroup of an elliptic curve with CM by the maximal order. Our techniques also yield a complete classification of both the possible torsion subgroups and the rational cyclic is…
Given a rational variety $V$ defined over $K$, we consider a principally polarized abelian variety $A$ of dimension $g$ defined over $V$. For each prime l we then consider the galois representation on the $l$-torsion of $A_t$, where $t$ is a $K$-rational point of $V$. The largest possible image is $GSp_{2g}(\mathbb{F}_l)$ and in the cases $g=1$ and 2, we are able to get surjectivity for all $l$ and almost all $t$. In the case $g=1$ this recovers a theorem originally proven by William Duke.
We describe the relations among the $\ell$-torsion conjecture, a conjecture of Malle giving an upper bound for the number of extensions, and the discriminant multiplicity conjecture. We prove that the latter two conjectures are equivalent in some sense. Altogether, the three conjectures are equivalent for the class of solvable groups. We then prove the $\ell$-torsion conjecture for $\ell$-groups and the other two conjectures for nilpotent groups.
Let K be a complete discrete valuation field of mixed characteristic (0,p) with perfect residue field. Let (π_n)_{n\ge 0} be a system of p-power roots of a uniformizer π=π_0 of K with π^p_{n+1}=π_n, and define G_s (resp.\ G_{\infty}) the absolute Galois group of K(π_s) (resp.\ K_{\infty}:=\bigcup_{n\ge 0} K(π_n)). In this paper, we study G_s-equivatiantness properties of G_{\infty}-equivariant homomorphisms between torsion (potentially) crystalline representations
Let $\mathcal{E}$ be a $\mathbb{Q}$-isogeny class of elliptic curves defined over $\mathbb{Q}$ without CM. The isogeny graph associated to $\mathcal{E}$ is a graph which has a vertex for each elliptic curve in $\mathcal{E}$ and an edge for each $\mathbb{Q}$-isogeny of prime degree that maps one elliptic curve in $\mathcal{E}$ to another elliptic curve in $\mathcal{E}$, with the degree recorded as a label of the edge. An isogeny-torsion graph is an isogeny graph where, in addition, we label each vertex with the abstract group structure of the torsion subgroup over $\mathbb{Q}$ of the correspond…
In this paper, we formulate the Drinfeld module analogue of a question raised by Lang and studied by Katz on the existence of rational points on abelian varieties over number fields. Given a maximal ideal $\fl$ of $\F_q[T]$, the question essentially asks whether, up to isogeny, a Drinfeld module $ϕ$ over $\F_q(T)$ contains a rational $\fl$-torsion point if the reduction of $ϕ$ at almost all primes of $\F_q[T]$ contains a rational $\fl$-torsion point. Similar to the case of abelian varieties, we show that the answer is positive if the rank of the Drinfeld module is $2$, but negative if the rank…
Let $K$ be a complete discrete valuation field of characteristic $(0, p)$ with perfect residue field, and let $T$ be an integral $\mathbb{Z}_p$-representation of $\mathrm{Gal}(\overline{K}/K)$. A theorem of T. Liu says that if $T/p^n T$ is torsion semi-stable (resp. crystalline) of uniformly bounded Hodge-Tate weights for all $n \geq 1$, then $T$ is also semi-stable (resp. crystalline). In this note, we show that we can relax the condition of "uniformly bounded Hodge-Tate weights" to an unbounded (log-)growth condition.
Typos in the abstract have been corrected. Let $ρ_n$ be an ordinary weight two representation of absolute Galois group of the rationals to $GL_2(\mathcal O/π^n)$. Here $\mathcal O$ is a ramified DVR with uniformiser $π$. If $ρ_n$ satisfies mild hypotheses we lift it to a characteristic zero $\mathcal O$-valued geometric weight two representation. The earlier methods could handle only the unramified case. We show that the deformation ring of a residual representation arising from a newform can be arranged to be a prescribed DVR provided we choose a suitable auxiliary level. We extend earlier pr…
We outline the proof of a theorem of M. Baker and A. Tamagawa that gives a complete description of the torsion points on a modular curve embedded in its Jacobian using the notion of an `almost rational torsion point.'
We report on the computation of torsion in certain homology theories of congruence subgroups of SL(4,Z). Among these are the usual group cohomology, the Tate-Farrell cohomology, and the homology of the sharbly complex. All of these theories yield Hecke modules. We conjecture that the Hecke eigenclasses in these theories have attached Galois representations. The interpretation of our computations at the torsion primes 2,3,5 is explained. We provide evidence for our conjecture in the 15 cases of odd torsion that we found in levels up to 31.
What is the true order of growth of torsion in the cohomology of an arithmetic group? Let $D$ be a quaternion over an imaginary quadratic field $F.$ Let $E/F$ be a cyclic Galois extension with $\mathrm{Gal}(E/F) = \langle σ\rangle.$ We prove lower bounds for "the Lefschetz number of $σ$ acting on torsion cohomology" of certain Galois-stable arithmetic subgroups of $D_E^\times.$ For these same subgroups, we unconditionally prove a would-be-numerical consequence of the existence of a hypothetical base change map for torsion cohomology.
Given an elliptic curve $E$ over a global function field $K$, the Galois action on the $n$-torsion points of $E$ gives rise to a mod-n Galois representation $ρ_{E,n}$. For $K$ satisfying some mild conditions, we show that the set of $E$ for which $ρ_{E,n}$ is as large as possible for all $n$, has density $1$.
Given an elliptic curve $E$ over a local field $K$ with residue characteristic $3$, we investigate the action of the absolute Galois group of $K$ in the case of potentially good reduction. In particular the only not completely known case is that of the $\ell$-adic Galois representation attached to an elliptic curve such that the image of inertia is non-cyclic, and isomorphic to $C_3 \rtimes C_4$. In this work we describe such a representation explicitly.
Let E/Q be an elliptic curve and p be a prime number, and let G be the Galois group of the extension of Q obtained by adjoining the coordinates of the p-torsion points on E. We determine all cases when the Galois cohomology group H^1(G, E[p]) does not vanish, and investigate the analogous question for E[p^i] when i>1. We include an application to the verification of certain cases of the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, and another application to the Grunwald-Wang problem for elliptic curves.
Let $K$ be a $p$-adic field and $E$ an elliptic curve over $K$ with potential good reduction. For some large Galois extensions $L$ of $K$ containing all $p$-power roots of unity, we show the vanishing of certain Galois cohomology groups of $L$ with values in the $p$-adic representation associated with $E$. This generalizes some results of Coates, Sujatha and Wintenberger.
In 1972, Serre showed that the adelic Galois representation associated to a non-CM elliptic curve over a number field has open image in GL_2(\hat{Z}). In Greicius' thesis, he develops necessary and sufficient criteria for determining when this representation is actually surjective and exhibits such an example. However, verifying these criteria turns out to be difficult in practice; Greicius describes tests for them that apply only to semistable elliptic curves over a specific class of cubic number fields. In this paper, we extend Greicius' methods in several directions. First, we consider the …
We calculate an explicit lower bound on the proportion of elliptic curves that are modular over any Galois CM field not containing $ζ_5$. Applied to imaginary quadratic fields, this proportion is at least $2/5$. Applied to cyclotomic fields $\mathbb{Q}(ζ_n)$ with $5\nmid n$, this proportion is at least $1-\varepsilon$ with only finitely many exceptions of $n$, for any choice of $\varepsilon > 0$.
Let p be a prime and K be a number field. Let rho_{E,p}:G_K \longrightarrow Aut(T_p E)\cong GL_2(Z_p) be the Galois representation given by the Galois action on the p-adic Tate module of an elliptic curve E over K. Serre showed that the image of rho_{E,p} is open if E has no complex multiplication. For an elliptic curve E over K whose j-invariant does not appear in an exceptional finite set, we give an explicit uniform lower bound of the size of the image of rho_{E,p}.
We derive asymptotically optimal upper bounds on the number of L-rational torsion points on a given elliptic curve or Drinfeld module defined over a finitely generated field K, as a function of the degree [L:K]. Our main tool is the adelic openness of the image of Galois representations attached to elliptic curves and Drinfeld modules, due to Serre and Pink-Ruetsche, respectively. Our approach is to prove a general result for certain Galois modules, which applies simultaneously to elliptic curves and to Drinfeld modules.
Let $G$ be a finite group and let $N/E$ be a tamely ramified $G$-Galois extension of number fields. We show how Stickelberger's factorization of Gauss sums can be used to determine the stable isomorphism class of various arithmetic $\mathbb{Z}[G]$-modules attached to $N/E$. If $\mathcal{O}_N$ and $\mathcal{O}_E$ denote the rings of integers of $N$ and $E$ respectively, we get in particular that $\mathcal{O}_N\otimes_{\mathcal{O}_E}\mathcal{O}_N$ defines the trivial class in the class group $\mathrm{Cl}(\mathbb{Z}[G])$ and, if $N/E$ is also assumed to be locally abelian, that the square root of…
For any elliptic curve E defined over the rationals with complex multiplication and for every prime p, we describe the image of the mod p Galois representation attached to E. We deduce information about the field of definition of torsion points of these curves, in particular we classify all cases where there are torsion points over Galois number fields not containing the field of definition of the CM.
For $\ell = 3$ and 5 it is known that every odd, irreducible, 2-dimensional representation of $\Gal(\bar{\Q}/\Q)$ with values in $\F_\ell$ and determinant equal to the cyclotomic character must "come from" the $\ell$-torsion points of an elliptic curve defined over $\Q$. We prove, by giving concrete counter-examples, that this result is false for every prime $\ell >5$.
Geyer and Jarden proved several results for torsion points of elliptic curves defined over the fixed field by finitely many elements in the absolute Galois group of a finitely generated field over the prime field in its algebraic closure. As an analogue of these results, this paper studies torsion points of Drinfeld modules defined over the fixed field by finitely many elements in the absolute Galois group of a finitely generated function field in its algebraic closure. We prove some results which are similar to those of Geyer and Jarden.
We show how rational points on certain varieties parametrize phenomena arising in the Galois theory of iterates of quadratic polynomials. As an example, we characterize completely the set of quadratic polynomials $x^2+c$ whose third iterate has a "small" Galois group by determining the rational points on some elliptic curves. It follows as a corollary that the only such integer value with this property is $c=3$, answering a question of Rafe Jones. Furthermore, using a result of Granville's on the rational points on quadratic twists of a hyperelliptic curve, we indicate how the ABC conjecture i…
We prove that the groups PSL(r,q^d) can be realized F_q(T)-regularly as Galois groups over the purely transcendental field F_q(T)(t_1,...,t_{r-1}) if r is even and r/2 is coprime to q^d-1. The method is to use twisted moduli schemes of Drinfeld modules (a la Shih). If one has sufficient control over modular forms, it can be made into an algorithm to find explicit equations. We do this for PSL(2,q^2) using Drinfeld modular forms.
In this paper we present a description of the Galois representation attached to an elliptic curve defined over a $2$-adic field $K$, in the case where the image of inertia is non-abelian. There are two possibilities for the image of inertia, namely $Q_8$ and $SL_2(\mathbb{F}_3)$, and in each case we need to distinguish whether the inertia degree of $K$ over $\mathbb{Q}_2$ is even or odd. The result presented here can be implemented in an algorithm to compute explicitly the Galois representation in these four cases.
Let $E$ be an elliptic curve defined over $\mathbf{Q}$ without complex multiplication. For each prime $\ell$, there is a representation $ρ_{E,\ell}\colon \text{Gal}(\overline{\mathbf{Q}}/\mathbf{Q}) \to \text{GL}_2(\mathbf{F}_{\ell})$ that describes the Galois action on the $\ell$-torsion points of $E$. Building on recent work of Rouse--Zureick-Brown and Zywina, we find models for composite level modular curves whose rational points classify elliptic curves over $\mathbf{Q}$ with simultaneously non-surjective, composite image of Galois. We also provably determine the rational points on almost …
In a recent preprint, F. Calegari has shown that for $\ell = 2, 3, 5$ and 7 there exist 2-dimensional surjective representations $ρ$ of $\Gal(\bar{\Q}/\Q)$ with values in $\F_\ell$ coming from the $\ell$-torsion points of an elliptic curve defined over $\Q$, but not minimally, i.e., so that any elliptic curve giving rise to $ρ$ has prime-to-$\ell$ conductor greater than the (prime-to-$\ell$) conductor of $ρ$. In this brief note, we will show that the same is true for any prime $\ell >7$, concretely, we will show that for any such $\ell$ the elliptic curve $$E^\ell: \qquad Y^2 = X (X- 3^\ell ) …
Recently there has been much interest in studying the torsion subgroups of elliptic curves base-extended to infinite extensions of $\mathbb{Q}$. In this paper, given a finite group $G$, we study what happens with the torsion of an elliptic curve $E$ over $\mathbb{Q}$ when changing base to the compositum of all number fields with Galois group $G$. We do this by studying a group theoretic condition called generalized $G$-type, which is a necessary condition for a number field with Galois group $H$ to be contained in that compositum. In general, group theory allows one to reduce the original prob…
In this paper, we survey some Galois-theoretic techniques for studying torsion points on curves. In particular, we give new proofs of some results of A. Tamagawa and the present authors for studying torsion points on curves with "ordinary good" or "ordinary semistable" reduction at a given prime. We also give new proofs of: (1) The Manin-Mumford conjecture: There are only finitely many torsion points lying on a curve of genus at least 2 embedded in its Jacobian by an Albanese map; and (2) The Coleman-Kaskel-Ribet conjecture: If p is a prime number which is at least 23, then the only torsion po…
For those elliptic curves defined over the rational with non--trivial torsion subgroup, we find a tight relationship between the torsion subgroup itself and a Galois group naturally arising from the curve.
We show that average analytic rank of elliptic curves with prescribed torsion $G$ is bounded for every torsion group $G$ under GRH for elliptic curve $L$-functions.
Let E be an elliptic curve without complex multiplication (CM) over a number field K, and let G_E(ell) be the image of the Galois representation induced by the action of the absolute Galois group of K on the ell-torsion subgroup of E. We present two probabilistic algorithms to simultaneously determine G_E(ell) up to local conjugacy for all primes ell by sampling images of Frobenius elements; one is of Las Vegas type and the other is a Monte Carlo algorithm. They determine G_E(ell) up to one of at most two isomorphic conjugacy classes of subgroups of GL_2(Z/ell Z) that have the same semisimplif…
We give a classification of all possible $2$-adic images of Galois representations associated to elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Q}$. To this end, we compute the 'arithmetically maximal' tower of 2-power level modular curves, develop techniques to compute their equations, and classify the rational points on these curves.
There are 26 possibilities for the torsion group of elliptic curves defined over quadratic number fields. We present examples of high rank elliptic curves with given torsion group which give the current records for most of the torsion groups. In particular, we show that for each possible torsion group, except maybe for Z/15Z, there exist an elliptic curve over some quadratic field with this torsion group and with rank >= 2.
The goal of this article is to give an explicit classification of the possible $p$-adic Galois representations that are attached to elliptic curves $E$ with CM defined over $\mathbb{Q}(j(E))$. More precisely, let $K$ be an imaginary quadratic field, and let $\mathcal{O}_{K,f}$ be an order in $K$ of conductor $f\geq 1$. Let $E$ be an elliptic curve with CM by $\mathcal{O}_{K,f}$, such that $E$ is defined by a model over $\mathbb{Q}(j(E))$. Let $p\geq 2$ be a prime, let $G_{\mathbb{Q}(j(E))}$ be the absolute Galois group of $\mathbb{Q}(j(E))$, and let $ρ_{E,p^\infty}\colon G_{\mathbb{Q}(j(E))}\t…
