English

The average number of integral points on elliptic curves is bounded

Number Theory 2015-02-11 v3 Algebraic Geometry

Abstract

We prove that, when elliptic curves E/QE/\mathbb{Q} are ordered by height, the average number of integral points #E(Z)\#|E(\mathbb{Z})| is bounded, and in fact is less than 6666 (and at most 89\frac{8}{9} on the minimalist conjecture). By "E(Z)E(\mathbb{Z})" we mean the integral points on the corresponding quasiminimal Weierstrass model EA,B:y2=x3+Ax+BE_{A,B}: y^2 = x^3 + Ax + B with which one computes the na\"{\i}ve height. The methods combine ideas from work of Silverman, Helfgott, and Helfgott-Venkatesh with work of Bhargava-Shankar and a careful analysis of local heights for "most" elliptic curves. The same methods work to bound integral points on average over the families y2=x3+By^2 = x^3 + B, y2=x3+Axy^2 = x^3 + Ax, and y2=x3D2xy^2 = x^3 - D^2 x.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1412.1047,
  title  = {The average number of integral points on elliptic curves is bounded},
  author = {Levent Alpoge},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1412.1047},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

45 pages, Mathematica file included. [v2: fixed a misattribution and a minus sign, added some citations. v3: improved result for rank 1 curves, fixed an error in the optimization, added some citations.]