We study integral points on the quadratic twists $\mathcal{E}_D:y^2=x^3-D^2x$ of the congruent number curve. We give upper bounds on the number of integral points in each coset of $2\mathcal{E}_D(\mathbb{Q})$ in $\mathcal{E}_D(\mathbb{Q})$ and show that their total is $\ll (3.8)^{\mathrm{rank} \mathcal{E}_D(\mathbb{Q})}$. We further show that the average number of non-torsion integral points in this family is bounded above by $2$. As an application we also deduce from our upper bounds that the system of simultaneous Pell equations $aX^2-bY^2=d$, $bY^2-cZ^2=d$ for pairwise coprime positive integers $a,b,c,d$, has at most $\ll (3.6)^{ω(abcd)}$ integer solutions.
In this paper, $p$ and $q$ are two different odd primes. First, We construct the congruent elliptic curves corresponding to $p$, $2p$, $pq$, and $2pq,$ then, in the cases of congruent numbers, we determine the rank of the corresponding congruent elliptic curves.
We compute equations for the families of elliptic curves 9-congruent to a given elliptic curve. We use these to find infinitely many non-trivial pairs of 9-congruent elliptic curves over Q, i.e. pairs of non-isogenous elliptic curves over Q whose 9-torsion subgroups are isomorphic as Galois modules.
We prove that a positive proportion of squarefree integers are congruent numbers such that the canonical height of the lowest non-torsion rational point on the corresponding elliptic curve satisfies a strong lower bound.
A positive integer $A$ is called a congruent number if $A$ is the area of a right-angled triangle with three rational sides. Equivalently, $A$ is a congruent number if and only if the congruent number curve $y^2=x^3-A^2x$ has a rational point $(x,y)\in\mathbb Q^2$ with $y\neq 0$. Using a theorem of Fermat, we give an elementary proof for the fact that congruent number curves do not contain rational points of finite order.
In 1979 Goldfeld conjectured: 50\% of the quadratic twists of an elliptic curve defined over the rationals have analytic rank zero. In this expository article we present a few recent developments towards the conjecture, especially its first instance - the congruent number elliptic curves.
We compute explicit equations for the surfaces Z(17,1) and Z(17,3) parametrising pairs of $17$-congruent elliptic curves. We find that each is a double cover of the same elliptic K3-surface. We use these equations to exhibit the first non-trivial example of a pair of symplectically 17-congruent elliptic curves over the rationals. We also compute the corresponding genus 2 curve whose Jacobian has a $(17,17)$-splitting.
We compute twists of the modular curve $X(13)$ that parametrise the elliptic curves 13-congruent to a given elliptic curve. Searching for rational points on these twists enables us to find non-trivial pairs of 13-congruent elliptic curves over ${\mathbb Q}$, i.e. pairs of non-isogenous elliptic curves over ${\mathbb Q}$ whose 13-torsion subgroups are isomorphic as Galois modules. We also find equations for the surfaces parametrising pairs of 13-congruent elliptic curves. There are two such surfaces, corresponding to 13-congruences that do, or do not, respect the Weil pairing. We write each as …
This update to my article on Congruent numbers, elliptic curves, and the passage from the local to the global, which appeared in Resonance, December 2009, pp. 1183--1205 (https://www.ias.ac.in/describe/article/reso/014/12/1183-1205) and was posted here as arXiv:0704.3783, covers a few recent advances in the arithmetic of elliptic curves with special reference to the congruent number problem.
We study a subclass of congruent elliptic curves $E^{(n)}: y^2=x^3-n^2x$, where $n$ is a positive integer congruent to $1\pmod 8$ with all prime factors congruent to $1\pmod 4$. We characterize such $E^{(n)}$ with Mordell-Weil rank zero and $2$-primary part of Shafarevich-Tate group isomorphic to $\big(\mathbb Z/2\mathbb Z \big)^2$. We also discuss such $E^{(n)}$ with 2-primary part of Shafarevich-Tate group isomorphic to $\big(\mathbb Z/2\mathbb Z \big)^{2k}$ with $k\ge2$.
We give an infinite family of congruent number elliptic curves, each with rank at least two, which are related to integral solutions of $m^2=n^2+nl+l^2$.
The congruent number elliptic curves are defined by $E_d: y^2=x^3-d^2x$, where $d\in \mathbb{N}.$ We give a simple proof of a formula for $L(\mathrm{Sym}^2(E_d),3)$ in terms of the determinant of the elliptic trilogarithm evaluated at some degree zero divisors supported on the torsion points on $E_d(\overline{\mathbb{Q}})$.
We study the distribution of a subclass congruent elliptic curve $E^{(n)}: y^2=x^3-n^2x$, where $n$ is congruent to $1\pmod 8$ with all prime factors congruent to $1\pmod 4$. We prove an independence of residue symbol property. Consequently we get the distribution of rank zero such $E^{(n)}$ with $2$-primary part of Shafarevich-Tate group isomorphic to $\big(\mathbb Z /2\mathbb Z\big)^2$. We also obtain a lower bound of the number of such $E^{(n)}$ with rank zero and $2$-primary part of Shafarevich-Tate group isomorphic to $\big(\mathbb Z /2\mathbb Z\big)^{4}$.
We use an invariant-theoretic method to compute certain twists of the modular curves X(n) for n=7,9,11. Searching for rational points on these twists enables us to find non-trivial pairs of n-congruent elliptic curves over Q, i.e. pairs of non-isogenous elliptic curves over Q whose n-torsion subgroups are isomorphic as Galois modules. We also show by giving explicit non-trivial examples over Q(T) that there are infinitely many examples over Q in the cases n=9 and n=11.
A positive integer that is the area of some rational right triangle is called a congruent number. In an algebraic point of view, being a congruent number means satisfying a system of equations. As early as the 1800s, it is understood that if $n$ is a congruent number, then the equation $nm^2 = uv(u^2 - v^2)$ has a solution in $\mathbb{Z}$. Using the relation between congruent numbers and elliptic curves $E_n: y^2 = x^3 - n^2 x$ which was established in the 1900s, we will prove that the converse of this two century-old result holds as well. In addition to this, we present another proof of the c…
We introduce a new generalization of $θ$-congruent numbers by defining the notion of rational $θ$-parallelogram envelope for a positive integer $n$, where $θ\in (0, π)$ is an angle with rational cosine. Then, we study more closely some problems related to the rational $θ$-parallelogram envelopes, using the arithmetic of algebraic curves. Our results generalize the recent work of T.~Ochiai, where only the case $θ=π/2$ was considered. Moreover, we answer the open questions in his paper and their generalizations for any Pythagorean angle.
Let $p$ be an odd prime. We attach appropriate signed Selmer groups to an elliptic curve $E$, where $E$ is assumed to have semistable reduction at all primes above $p$. We then compare the Iwasawa $λ$-invariants of these signed Selmer groups for two congruent elliptic curves over the cyclotomic $\mathbb{Z}_p$-extension in the spirit of Greenberg-Vatsal and B. D. Kim. As an application of our comparsion formula, we show that if the $p$-parity conjecture is true for one of the congruent elliptic curves, then it is also true for the other elliptic curve. In the midst of proving this latter result…
A recent paper of Shekhar compares the ranks of elliptic curves $E_1$ and $E_2$ for which there is an isomorphism $E_1[p] \simeq E_2[p]$ as $\mathrm{Gal}(\bar{\mathbf{Q}}/\mathbf{Q})$-modules, where $p$ is a prime of good ordinary reduction for both curves. In this paper we prove an analogous result in the case where $p$ is a prime of good supersingular reduction.
The correspondence between right triangles with rational sides, triplets of rational squares in arithmetic succession and integral solutions of certain quadratic forms is well known. We show how this correspondence can be extended to the generalized notions of rational $θ$-triangles, rational squares occurring in arithmetic progressions and concordant forms. In our approach we establish one-to-one mappings to rational points on certain elliptic curves and examine in detail the role of solutions of the $θ$-congruent number problem and the concordant form problem associated with nontrivial torsi…
Consider the elliptic curves given by $ E_{n,θ}:\quad y^2=x^3+2s n x^2-(r^2-s^2) n^2 x $ where $0 < θ< π$, $\cos(θ)=s/r$ is rational with $0\leq |s| <r$ and $\gcd (r,s)=1$. These elliptic curves are related to the $θ$-congruent number problem as a generalization of the congruent number problem. For fixed $θ$ this family corresponds to the quadratic twist by $n$ of the curve $E_θ: \,\, y^2=x^3+2s x^2-(r^2-s^2) x.$ We study two special cases $θ=π/3$ and $θ=2π/3$. We have found a subfamily of $n=n(w)$ having rank at least $3$ over ${\mathbb Q}(w)$ and a subfamily with rank $4$ parametrized by poi…
We generalize the lemmas of Thomas Kretschmer to arbitrary number fields, and apply them with a 2-descent argument to obtain bounds for families of elliptic curves over certain imaginary quadratic number fields with class number 1. One such family occurs in the congruent number problem. We consider the congruent number problem over these quadratic number fields, and subject to the finiteness of Sha, we show that there are infinitely many numbers that are not congruent over Q but become congruent over $Q(ζ_3)$.
We take an approach toward counting the number of n for which the curves E_n: y^2=x^3-n^2x have 2-Selmer groups of a given size. This question was also discussed in a pair of Invent. Math. papers by Roger Heath-Brown. We discuss the connection between computing the size of these Selmer groups and verifying cases of the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture. The key ingredient for the asymptotic formulae is the ``independence'' of the Legendre symbol evaluated at the prime divisors of an integer with exactly k prime factors.
A positive integer $N$ is called a $θ$-congruent number if there is a $\ta$-triangle $(a,b,c)$ with rational sides for which the angle between $a$ and $b$ is equal to $θ$ and its area is $N \sqrt{r^2-s^2}$, where $θ\in (0, π)$, $\cos(θ)=s/r$, and $0 \leq |s|<r$ are coprime integers. It is attributed to Fujiwara \cite{fujw1} that $N$ is a $\ta$-congruent number if and only if the elliptic curve $E_N^\ta: y^2=x (x+(r+s)N)(x-(r-s)N)$ has a point of order greater than $2$ in its group of rational points. Moreover, a natural number $N\neq 1,2,3,6$ is a $\ta$-congruent number if and only if rank of …
In this paper, we use the 2-decent method to find a series of odd non-congruent numbers $\equiv1\pmod 8$ whose prime factors are $\equiv1\pmod4$ such that the congruent elliptic curves have second lowest Selmer groups, which includes Li and Tian's result (Li and Tian, 2000) as special cases.
To each i, j belonging to some set of integers, attach the integer a(i,j). Are there integers x(i) such that x(j)-x(i) is congruent to a(i,j) mod (i,j)? A necessary condition is that a(i,j)+a(j,k) be congruent to a(i,k) mod (i,j,k). This condition is sufficient.
A Heron quadrilateral is a cyclic quadrilateral whose area and side lengths are rational. In this work, we establish a correspondence between Heron quadrilaterals and a family of elliptic curves of the form $y^2 = x3+/alpha x^2-n^2x.$ This correspondence generalizes the notions of Goins and Maddox who established a similar connection between Heron triangles and elliptic curves. We further study this family of elliptic curves, looking at their torsion groups and ranks. We also explore their connection with congruent numbers, which are the /alpha = 0 case. Congruent numbers are positive integers…
Several discrete geometry problems are closely related to the arithmetic theory of elliptic curves defined on the rational fields $\mathbb{Q}$. In this paper we consider the $θ$-congruent number for $θ=\fracπ{3}$ and $\frac{2π}{3}$ and tiling number n. For the case that $n\geqslant 2$ is square-free odd integer, we determine all $n$ such that the Selmer rank of elliptic curve $E_{n,\fracπ{3}}:\ y^2=x(x-n)(x+3n)$ or/and $E_{n,\frac{2π}{3}}:\ y^2=x(x+n)(x-3n)$ is zero. From this, we provide several series of non $θ$-congruent numbers for $θ=\fracπ{3}$ and $\frac{2π}{3}$, and non tiling numbers n…
We study the parity of rank of $2$-${\rm Selmer}$ groups associated to $π/3$ and $2π/3$-congruent numbers. Our second result gives some positive densities about $π/3$ and $2π/3$ non-congruent numbers which can support the even part of Goldfeld's conjecture. We give some necessary conditions such that $n$ is non $π/3$-congruent number for elliptic curves $E_n$ whose Shafarevich-Tate group is non-trivial. In the last section, we show that for $n=pq\equiv 5(resp. \ 11)\pmod{24}$, the density of non $π/3$($resp.$ $2π/3$)-congruent numbers is at least 75\%, where $p,q$ are primes.
A generalization of the congruent number problem is to find positive integers $n$ that appear as the areas of Heron triangles. Selmer group of a congruent number elliptic curve has been studied quite extensively. Here, we look into the $2$-Selmer group structure for Heronian elliptic curves associated with Heron triangles of area $n$ and one of the angle $θ$ such that $\tan \fracθ{2} = n^{-1}$ and $n^{2}+1=2q$ for some prime $q$.
Mohammed Ben Alhocain, in an Arab manuscript of the tenth century, stated that the principal object of the theory of rational right triangles is to find a square which when increased or diminished by a certain number $m$ becomes a square (see Dickson). In modern language, this object is to find a rational point of infinite order on the elliptic curve $my^2=x^3-x$. Heegner constructed (see also Monsky) such rational points in the case that $m$ are primes congruent to 5, 7 modulo 8 or twice primes congruent to 6 modulo 8. We extend Heegner's result to integers $m$ with many prime divisors.
We study the Selmer group associated to a $p$-ordinary newform $f \in S_{2r}(Γ_0(N))$ over the anticyclotomic $\mathbb{Z}_p$-extension of an imaginary quadratic field $K/\mathbb{Q}$. Under certain assumptions, we prove that this Selmer group has no proper $Λ$-submodules of finite index. This generalizes work of Bertolini in the elliptic curve case. We also offer both a correction and an improvement to an earlier result on Iwasawa invariants of congruent modular forms by the present authors.
We prove that the rational elliptic curve y^2 = x^3 - n^2x satisfies the full Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture for at least 41.9% of positive squarefree integers n equal to 1, 2, or 3 mod 8, and that it satisfies the regular BSD conjecture for at least 55.9% of positive squarefree integers n equal to 5, 6, or 7 mod 8. In particular, at least 55.9% of positive squarefree integers equal to 5, 6, or 7 mod 8 are congruent numbers. These proofs complete an argument started by Tian, Yuan, and Zhang.
For an elliptic curve $E$ over $K$, the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture predicts that the rank of Mordell-Weil group $E(K)$ is equal to the order of the zero of $L(E_{/ K},s)$ at $s=1$. In this paper, we shall give a proof for elliptic curves with complex multiplications. The key method of the proof is to reduce the Galois action of infinite order on the Tate module of an elliptic curve to that of finite order by using the $p$-adic Hodge theory. As a corollary, we can determine whether a given natural number is a congruent number (congruent number problem). This problem is one of the olde…
Let $K = \mathbb Q(\sqrt{-q})$, where $q$ is a prime congruent to $3$ modulo $4$. Let $A = A(q)$ denote the Gross curve over the Hilbert class field $H$ of $K$. In this note we use Magma to calculate the values $L(E/H, 1)$ for all such $q$'s up to some reasonable ranges for all primes $q$ congruent to $7$ modulo $8$. All these values are non-zero, and using the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, we can calculate hypothetical orders of the Tate-Shafarevich group of $A$ for all such $q$ up to $4831$.
We consider the problem of determining whether a given prime p is a congruent number. We present an easily computed criterion that allows us to conclude that certain primes for which congruency was previously undecided, are in fact not congruent. As a result, we get additional information on the possible sizes of Tate-Shafarevich groups of the associated elliptic curves. We also present a related criterion for primes p such that 16 divides the class number of the imaginary quadratic field Q(sqrt(-p)). Both results are based on descent methods. While we cannot show for either criterion individu…
Let ${\mathbb K}={\mathbb Q}(\sqrt{m})$ be a real quadratic number field, where $m>1$ is a squarefree integer. Suppose that $0 < θ< π$ has rational cosine, say $\cos (θ)=s/r$ with $0< |s|<r$ and $\gcd(r,s)=1$. A positive integer $n$ is called a $(\mathbb K,θ)$-congruent number if there is a triangle, called the $(\mathbb K,θ, n)$-triangles, with sides in $\mathbb K$ having $θ$ as an angle and $nα_θ$ as area, where ${α_θ}=\sqrt{r^2-s^2}$. Consider the $(\mathbb K,θ)$-congruent number elliptic curve $E_{n,θ}: y^2=x(x+(r+s)n)(x-(r-s)n)$ defined over $\mathbb K$. Denote the squarefree part of posi…
Let K be an algebraic number field and O_K be its ring of integers. Let S_K be the set of elements in O_K which are sums of squares in O_K and s(O_K) the minimal number of squares necessary to represent -1in O_K. Let g( S_K ) be the smallest positive integer t such that every element in S_K is a sum of t squares in O_K. Here K is generated over field of rational number by square root of m and -n , where m congruent 3 mod 4 and n congruent 1 mod 4 are two distinct positive square free integers, we prove that $ S_K= O_K. We also prove that g(O_ K) less or equals to s(O_K)+1 or s(O_K)+2. Applying…
When p is congruent to 1 mod 8, we have a criterion of the quadratic character of 1+\sqrt{2}, which is related to the class number of \Q(\sqrt{-p}). In this paper, we obtain a similar criterion using an elliptic curve, which contrasts to the proof using algebraic number theory for the old one.
Let $E$ be a level 1, vector valued Eisenstein series of half-integral weight, normalized so that the coefficients are all in $\mathbb{Z}$. We show that there is a level one vector valued cusp form $f$ with the same weight as $E$ and with coefficients in $\mathbb{Z}$, which is congruent to $E$ modulo the constant term of $E$.
In this paper, the theory of elliptic curves is used for finding the solutions of the quartic Diophantine equation $X^4+Y^4=2(U^4+V^4)$ Keywords: Diophantine equation, Elliptic curve, Congruent number
A number of authors have proven explicit versions of Lehmer's conjecture for polynomials whose coefficients are all congruent to 1 modulo m. We prove a similar result for polynomials f(X) that are divisible in (Z/mZ)[X] by a polynomial of the form 1+X+...+X^n for some n > ε*deg(f). We also formulate and prove an analogous statement for elliptic curves.
If $E$ is a minimal elliptic curve defined over $\ZZ$, we obtain a bound $C$, depending only on the global Tamagawa number of $E$, such that for any point $P\in E(\QQ)$, $nP$ is integral for at most one value of $n>C$. As a corollary, we show that if $E/\QQ$ is a fixed elliptic curve, then for all twists $E'$ of $E$ of sufficient height, and all torsion-free, rank-one subgroups $Γ\subseteq E'(\QQ)$, $Γ$ contains at most 6 integral points. Explicit computations for congruent number curves are included.
Let $E:y^2=x^3+ax+b$ be an elliptic curve defined over $\mathbb{Q}$. We compute certain twists of the classical modular curves $X(8)$. Searching for rational points on these twists enables us to find non-trivial pairs of $8$-congruent elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Q}$, i.e. pairs of non-isogenous elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Q}$ whose $8$-torsion subgroups are isomorphic as Galois modules. We also show that there are infinitely many examples over $\mathbb{Q}$.
