English

Elliptic curves with Galois-stable cyclic subgroups of order 4

Number Theory 2020-05-01 v1

Abstract

Infinitely many elliptic curves over Q{\bf Q} have a Galois-stable cyclic subgroup of order 4. Such subgroups come in pairs, which intersect in their subgroups of order 2. Let Ni(X)N_i(X) denote the number of elliptic curves over Q{\bf Q} with at least ii pairs of Galois-stable cyclic subgroups of order 4, and height at most XX. In this article we show that N1(X)=c1,1X1/3+c1,2X1/6+O(X0.105)N_1(X) = c_{1,1}X^{1/3}+c_{1,2}X^{1/6}+O(X^{0.105}). We also show, as XX\to \infty, that N2(X)=c2,1X1/6+o(X1/12)N_2(X)=c_{2,1}X^{1/6}+o(X^{1/12}), the precise nature of the error term being related to the prime number theorem and the zeros of the Riemann zeta-function in the critical strip. Here, c1,1=0.95740c_{1,1}= 0.95740\ldots, c1,2=0.87125c_{1,2}=- 0.87125\ldots, and c2,1=0.035515c_{2,1}= 0.035515\ldots are calculable constants. Lastly, we show that Ni(X)=0N_i(X)=0 for i>2i > 2 (the result being trivial for i>3i>3 given that an elliptic curve has 6 cyclic subgroups of order 4).

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2004.14947,
  title  = {Elliptic curves with Galois-stable cyclic subgroups of order 4},
  author = {Carl Pomerance and Edward F. Schaefer},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.14947},
  year   = {2020}
}