English

On the moments of torsion points modulo primes and their applications

Number Theory 2020-06-02 v3

Abstract

Let A[n]\mathbb{A}[n] be the group of nn-torsion points of a commutative algebraic group A\mathbb{A} defined over a number field FF. For a prime ideal p\mathfrak{p}, we let Np(A[n])N_{\mathfrak{p}}(\mathbb{A}[n]) be the number of Fp\mathbb{F}_\mathfrak{p}-solutions of the system of polynomial equations defining A[n]\mathbb{A}[n] when reduced modulo p\mathfrak{p}. Here, Fp\mathbb{F}_{\mathfrak{p}} is the residue field at p\mathfrak{p}. Let πF(x)\pi_F(x) denote the number of primes p\mathfrak{p} of FF whose norm N(p)N(\mathfrak{p}) do not exceed xx. We then, for algebraic groups of dimension one, compute the kk-th moment limit Mk(A/F,n)=limx1πF(x)N(p)xNpk(A[n])M_k(\mathbb{A}/F, n)=\lim_{x\rightarrow \infty} \frac{1}{\pi_F(x)} \sum_{N(\mathfrak{p}) \leq x} N_{\mathfrak{p}}^k(\mathbb{A}[n]) by appealing to the prime number theorem for arithmetic progressions and more generally the Chebotarev density theorem. We further interpret this limit as the number of orbits of the action of the absolute Galois group of FFon kk copies of A[n]\mathbb{A}[n] by an application of Burnside's Lemma. These concrete examples suggest a possible approach for determining the number of orbits of a group acting on kk copies of a set. We also show that for an algebraic set YY of dimension zero, the corresponding arithmetic function Np(Y)N_\mathfrak{p}(Y), defined on primes p\mathfrak{p} of FF, has an asymptotic limiting distribution.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1907.00286,
  title  = {On the moments of torsion points modulo primes and their applications},
  author = {Amir Akbary and Peng-Jie Wong},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1907.00286},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

Some typos in the previous version are corrected