14H52 : Elliptic curves Let E be the elliptic curve given by a Mordell equation y^2=x^3-A where A is an integer. For certain A, we use Stoll's formula to compute a lower bound for the proportion of square-free integers D up to X such that the Mordell-Weil rank of the quadratic twist by D is less than 2k, for given non-negative k. We also compute an upper bound for a certain average rank of quadratic twists of E.
We conjecture a lower bound for the minimal canonical height of non-torsion rational points on a natural density 1 subset of the sextic twist family of Mordell curves. We then establish a lower bound that yields a partial result towards this conjecture.
Conjecturally, the parity of the Mordell-Weil rank of an elliptic curve over a number field K is determined by its root number. The root number is a product of local root numbers, so the rank modulo 2 is conjecturally the sum over all places of K of a function of elliptic curves over local fields. This note shows that there can be no analogue for the rank modulo 3, 4 or 5, or for the rank itself. In fact, standard conjectures for elliptic curves imply that there is no analogue modulo n for any n>2, so this is purely a parity phenomenon.
Classical mock modular and quantum modular forms are known to have an intimate relationship with Mordell integrals thanks to Zwegers' groundbreaking PhD thesis. More recently, generalisations of mock/quantum modular forms to so-called "higher depth" versions have been intensively studied. In essence, a mock/quantum modular form of depth $d$ is such that the error of modularity transforms as another mock/quantum modular form of depth $d - 1$. In this short note we use techniques of Bringmann, Kaszian, and Milas to show that the double Eichler integrals of a family of depth two quantum modular f…
In this paper we investigate the 2-Selmer rank in families of quadratic twists of elliptic curves over arbitrary number fields. We give sufficient conditions on an elliptic curve so that it has twists of arbitrary 2-Selmer rank, and we give lower bounds for the number of twists (with bounded conductor) that have a given 2-Selmer rank. As a consequence, under appropriate hypotheses we can find many twists with trivial Mordell-Weil group, and (assuming the Shafarevich-Tate conjecture) many others with infinite cyclic Mordell-Weil group. Using work of Poonen and Shlapentokh, it follows from our r…
In this paper, we consider a family of twists of a superelliptic curve over a global field, and obtain results on the distribution of the Mordell-Weil rank of these twists. Our results have applications to the distribution of the number of rational points.
We compute a lower bound of the canonical height on quadratic twists of certain elliptic curves. Also we show a simple method for constructing families of quadratic twists with an explicit rational point. % from cubic polynomials. Using the above lower bound, we show that the explicit rational point is primitive as an element of the Mordell--Weil group.
Watkins conjectured that for an elliptic curve $E$ over $\mathbb{Q}$ of Mordell-Weil rank $r$, the modular degree of $E$ is divisible by $2^r$. If $E$ has non-trivial rational $2$-torsion, we prove the conjecture for all the quadratic twists of $E$ by squarefree integers with sufficiently many prime factors.
We study the arithmetic of the twist of the Fermat quartic defined by $X^4 + Y^4 + Z^4 = 0$ which has no $\mathbb{Q}$-rational point. We calculate the Mordell--Weil group of the Jacobian variety explicilty. We show that the degree $0$ part of the Picard group is a free $\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}$-module of rank $2$, whereas the Mordell--Weil group is a free $\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}$-module of rank $3$. Thus the relative Brauer group is non-trivial. We also show that this quartic violates the local-global property for linear determinantal representations.
Given two elliptic curves defined over a number field K, not both with j-invariant zero, we show that there are infinitely many $D\in K^\times$ with pairwise distinct image in $ K^\times/{K^\times}^2 $, such that the quadratic twist of both curves by D have positive Mordell-Weil rank. The proof depends on relating the values of pairs of cubic polynomials to rational points on another elliptic curve, and on a fiber product construction.
We note that Pillay's result on the stability of an algebraically closed field with a predicate for a group of Lang type implies that number uniformity follows formally from the finiteness results analogous to Faltings' Theorem.
Let $E: y^2=x(x-a^2)(x+b^2)$ be an elliptic curve with full $2$-torsion group, where $a$ and $b$ are coprime integers and $2(a^2+b^2)$ is a square. Assume that the $2$-Selmer group of $E$ has rank two. We characterize all quadratic twists of $E$ with Mordell-Weil rank zero and $2$-primary Shafarevich-Tate groups $(\mathbb Z/2\mathbb Z)^2$, under certain conditions. We also obtain a distribution result of these elliptic curves.
Fix a rational basepoint b and a rational number c. For the quadratic dynamical system f_c(x) = x^2+c, it has been shown that the number of rational points in the backward orbit of b is bounded independent of the choice of rational parameter c. In this short note we investigate the dependence of the bound on the basepoint b, assuming a strong form of the Mordell Conjecture.
In our notice we propose the classification of some quartic equations with only trivial solutions by the auxiliary equations. For proving trivial solutions of the quartic equations we use method infinite descent based on the number of prime integers of the solution of the auxiliary equation. The quartic equations with only trivial solutions belong to "higher arithmetic". The main tools of their investigation are the fundamental theorem of arithmetic, infinite descent and elliptic curves. In 1969, L.J. Mordell has observed that the triviality of the solution of $x^4 + y^4 = 2z^2$ implies the tr…
We characterize quadratic twists of $y^2=x(x-a^2)(x+b^2)$ with Mordell-Weil groups and $2$-primary part of Shafarevich-Tate groups being isomorphic to $(\mathb Z/2\mathbb Z)^2$ under certain conditions. We also obtain the distribution result of these elliptic curves.
Given an elliptic curve $E$ over $\mathbb{Q}$, a celebrated conjecture of Goldfeld asserts that a positive proportion of its quadratic twists should have analytic rank 0 (resp. 1). We show this conjecture holds whenever $E$ has a rational 3-isogeny. We also prove the analogous result for the sextic twists of $j$-invariant 0 curves (Mordell curves). To prove these results, we establish a general criterion for the non-triviality of the $p$-adic logarithm of Heegner points at an Eisenstein prime $p$, in terms of the relative $p$-class numbers of certain number fields and then apply this criterion…
In [17], we proved a structure theorem on the Mordell-Weil group of abelian varieties over function fields that arise as the twists of abelian varieties by the cyclic covers of projective varieties in terms of the Prym varieties associated with covers. In this paper, we provide an explicit way to construct the abelian varieties with large ranks over the higher dimension function fields. To do so, we apply the above-mentioned theorem to the twists of Albanese varieties of the cyclic multiple planes.
We characterize all infinite-dimensional graded virtual modules for Thompson's sporadic simple group, whose graded traces are weight 3/2 weakly holomorphic modular forms satisfying certain special properties. We then use these modules to detect the non-triviality of Mordell--Weil, Selmer, and Tate--Shafarevich groups of quadratic twists of certain elliptic curves.
In this short note, we shall construct a certain topological family which contains all elliptic curves over Q and, as an application, show that this family provides some geometric interpretations of the Hasse-Weil L-function of an elliptic curve over Q whose Mordell-Weil group is of rank $\leq1$.
Let E be an elliptic curve defined over a number field K. Michael Larsen conjectured that for any finitely generated subgroup G of Gal(\bar K/K), the Mordell-Weil rank of E is unbounded in number fields fixed by G. We prove that the conjecture holds over K=Q for both the analytic rank and the p-infinity Selmer rank of E for every odd prime p. For arbitrary E/K, we show that Larsen's conjecture follows from the standard conjectures for ranks of elliptic curves, provided K has a real place or E has non-integral j-invariant.
In this paper, we consider Abelian varieties over function fields that arise as twists of Abelian varieties by cyclic covers of irreducible quasi-projective varieties. Then, in terms of Prym varieties associated to the cyclic covers, we prove a structure theorem on their Mordell-Weil group. Our results give an explicit method for construction of elliptic curves, hyper- and super-elliptic Jacobians that have large ranks over function fields of certain varieties.
In studying rational points on elliptic K3 surfaces of the form $f(t)y^2=g(x)$, where $f,g$ are cubic or quartic polynomials (without repeated roots), we introduce a condition on the quadratic twists of two elliptic curves having simultaneously positive Mordell-Weil rank. We prove a necessary and sufficient condition for the Zariski density of rational points by using this condition, and we relate it to the Hilbert property. Applying to surfaces of Cassels-Schinzel type, we prove unconditionally that rational points are dense both in Zariski topology and in real topology.
We prove that the central values of additive twists of a cuspidal $L$-function define a quantum modular form in the sense of Zagier, generalizing recent results of Bettin and Drappeau. From this we deduce a reciprocity law for the twisted first moment of multiplicative twists of cuspidal $L$-functions, similar to reciprocity laws discovered by Conrey for the twisted second moment of Dirichlet $L$-functions. Furthermore we give an interpretation of quantum modularity at infinity for additive twists of $L$-functions of weight 2 cusp forms in terms of the corresponding functional equations.
Let $\mathbb{F}_r$ be a finite field of characteristic $p>3$. For any power $q$ of $p$, consider the elliptic curve $E=E_{q,r}$ defined by $y^2=x^3 + t^q -t$ over $K=\mathbb{F}_r(t)$. We describe several arithmetic invariants of $E$ such as the rank of its Mordell--Weil group $E(K)$, the size of its Néron--Tate regulator $\text{Reg}(E)$, and the order of its Tate--Shafarevich group $III(E)$ (which we prove is finite). These invariants have radically different behaviors depending on the congruence class of $p$ modulo 6. For instance $III(E)$ either has trivial $p$-part or is a $p$-group. On the…
In this article, we investigate the variance of local $\varepsilon$-factor for a modular form with arbitrary nebentypus with respect to twisting by a quadratic character. We detect the type of the supercuspidal representation from that. For modular forms with trivial nebentypus, similar results are proved by Pacetti. Our method however is completely different from that of Pacetti and we use representation theory crucially. For ramified principal series (with $\infdiv{p}{N}$ and $p$ odd) and unramified supercuspidal representations of level zero, we relate these numbers with the Morita's $p$-ad…
In this note, we prove that given a Hecke-Maass cusp form $f$ for $SL_2(\mathbb{Z})$ and a sufficiently large integer $q=q_1q_2$ with $q_j\asymp \sqrt{q}$ being prime numbers for $j=1,2$, there exists a primitive Dirichlet character $χ$ of conductor $q$ such that $L\left(\frac{1}{2},f\otimes χ\right)L\left(\frac{1}{2},χ\right)\neq 0$. To prove this, we establish asymptotic formulas of $L\left(\frac{1}{2},f\otimes χ\right)L\left(\frac{1}{2},χ\right)$ over the family of even primitive Dirichlet characters $χ$ of conductor $q$ for more general $q$.
Given an elliptic surface over a number field, we study the collection of fibres whose Mordell-Weil rank is greater than the generic rank. Under suitable assumptions, we show that this collection is not thin. Our results apply to quadratic twist families and del Pezzo surfaces of degree $1$.
The Mordell-Weil groups $E(\mathbb{Q})$ of elliptic curves influence the structures of their quadratic twists $E_{-D}(\mathbb{Q})$ and the ideal class groups $\mathrm{CL}(-D)$ of imaginary quadratic fields. For appropriate $(u,v) \in \mathbb{Z}^2$, we define a family of homomorphisms $Φ_{u,v}: E(\mathbb{Q}) \rightarrow \mathrm{CL}(-D)$ for particular negative fundamental discriminants $-D:=-D_E(u,v)$, which we use to simultaneously address questions related to lower bounds for class numbers, the structures of class groups, and ranks of quadratic twists. Specifically, given an elliptic curve $E…
Let $X/\mathbb{Q}$ be a curve of genus $g \ge 2$ with Jacobian $J$ and let $\ell$ be a prime of good reduction. Using Selmer varieties, Kim defines a decreasing sequence \[ X(\mathbb{Q}_\ell) \supseteq X(\mathbb{Q}_\ell)_1 \supseteq X(\mathbb{Q}_\ell)_2 \supseteq \cdots \] all containing the rational points of $X$. Thanks to the work of Coleman, the `Chabauty set' $X(\mathbb{Q}_\ell)_1$ is known to be finite provided the Mordell--Weil rank of $J$ is smaller than $g$. In this case one has a practical strategy that often succeeds in computing the set of rational points of $X$. Balakrishnan and D…
In 2002 Watkins conjectured that given an elliptic curve defined over $\mathbb{Q}$, its Mordell-Weil rank is at most the $2$-adic valuation of its modular degree. We consider the analogous problem over function fields of positive characteristic, and we prove it in several cases. More precisely, every modular semi-stable elliptic curve over $\mathbb{F}_q(T)$ after extending constant scalars, and every quadratic twist of a modular elliptic curve over $\mathbb{F}_q(T)$ by a polynomial with sufficiently many prime factors satisfy the analogue of Watkins' conjecture. Furthermore, for a well-known f…
We study the problem of the existence of arithmetic progressions of three cubes over quadratic number fields Q(sqrt(D)), where D is a squarefree integer. For this purpose, we give a characterization in terms of Q(sqrt(D))-rational points on the elliptic curve E:y^2=x^3-27. We compute the torsion subgroup of the Mordell-Weil group of this elliptic curve over Q(sqrt(D)) and we give partial answers to the finiteness of the free part of E(Q(sqrt(D))). This last task will be translated to compute if the rank of the quadratic D-twist of the modular curve X_0(36) is zero or not.
For an elliptic curve A defined over a global function field K of characteristic p>0, the p-Selmer group of the Frobenius twist of A tends to have larger order than that of A. The aim of this note is to discuss this phenomenon.
Let $\mathbb{F}_q$ denote the finite field with $q=p^λ$ elements. Maximum Rank-metric codes (MRD for short) are subsets of $M_{m\times n}(\mathbb{F}_q)$ whose number of elements attains the Singleton-like bound. The first MRD codes known was found by Delsarte (1978) and Gabidulin (1985). Sheekey (2016) presented a new class of MRD codes over $\mathbb{F}q$ called twisted Gabidulin codes and also proposed a generalization of the twisted Gabidulin codes to the codes $\mathcal{H}_{k,s}(L_1,L_2)$. The equivalence and duality of twisted Gabidulin codes was discussed by Lunardoni, Trombetti, and Zhou…
These are notes related to a 12-hour course of lectures given at the Centre de Recerca Mathemàtica near Barcelona in February, 2010. The aim of the course was to explain results on curves and their Jacobians over function fields, with emphasis on the group of rational points of the Jacobian, and to explain various constructions of Jacobians with large Mordell-Weil rank. They may be viewed as a continuation of my Park City notes (arXiv:1101.1939). In those notes, the focus was on elliptic curves and finite constant fields, whereas here we discuss curves of higher genera and results over more ge…
Let $k$ be a finite field and $L$ be the function field of a curve $C/k$ of genus $g\geq 1$. In the first part of this note, we show that the number of separable $S$-integral points on a constant elliptic curve $E/L$ is bounded solely in terms of $g$, the size of $S$ and the rank of the Mordell-Weil group $E(L)$. In the second part, we assume that $L$ is the function field of a hyperelliptic curve $C_A:s^2=A(t)$, where $A(t)$ is a square-free $k$-polynomial of odd degree. If $\infty$ is the place of $L$ associated to the point at infinity of $C_A$, then we prove that the set of separable $\{\i…
For a non-constant elliptic surface over $\mathbb{P}^1$ defined over $\mathbb{Q}$, it is a result of Silverman that the Mordell--Weil rank of the fibres is at least the rank of the group of sections, up to finitely many fibres. If the elliptic surface is non-isotrivial one expects that this bound is an equality for infinitely many fibres, although no example is known unconditionally. Under the Bunyakovsky conjecture, such an example has been constructed by Neumann and Setzer. In this note we show that the Legendre elliptic surface has the desired property, conditional on the existence of infin…
In this note we extend the theory of twists of elliptic curves as presented in various standard texts for characteristic not equal to two or three to the remaining characteristics. For this, we make explicit use of the correspondence between the twists and the Galois cohomology set $H^1\big(\operatorname{G}_{\overline{K}/K}, \operatorname{Aut}_{\overline{K}}(E)\big)$. The results are illustrated by examples.
Remarkably, the twistor $\mathbf P^1$ occurs as a fundamental object in both four-dimensional space-time geometry and in number theory. In Euclidean signature twistor theory it is how one describes space-time points. In recent work by Fargues and Scholze on the local Langlands conjecture using geometric Langlands on the Fargues-Fontaine curve, the twistor $\mathbf P^1$ appears as the analog of this curve at the infinite prime. These notes are purely expository, written with the goal of explaining, in a form accessible to both mathematicians and physicists, various different ways in which the t…
In this note we investigate the existence of zeros of linear twists of $L$-functions outside of the critical strip. In particular, we show that the Lerch zeta function $L(λ,α,s)$ has infinitely many zeros for $1<σ<1+η$, for any $η>0$, when $λ$ is irrational and $α$ is rational. This settles the question on the existence of zeros of the Lerch zeta functions for $σ>1$.
In this note, we prove a criteria for supersingularity when the variety has a large automorphism group and a perfect bilinear pairing. This criteria unifies and extends many known results on the supersingularity of curves and varieties and in particular, applies to a large family of Artin-Schreier curves.
We show that the mod p Galois representations attached to a Q-curve E of degree d over an imaginary quadratic number field K are surjective for all p larger than some constant M_{K,d}, if E has potentially multiplicative reduction at any prime not dividing 6. The proof uses Mazur's formal immersion method, a result of Darmon and Merel on non-split modular curves, and an analytic argument showing that Jacobians of certain twisted modular curves admit quotients with Mordell-Weil rank 0. In combination with a previous theorem of the author and Skinner on modularity of Q-curves, the surjectivity r…
