English

The Lang-Trotter Conjecture for the elliptic curve $y^2=x^3+Dx$

Number Theory 2021-08-16 v1

Abstract

Let EE be an elliptic curve over Q.\mathbb{Q}. Let apa_p denote the trace of the Frobenius endomorphism at a rational prime pp. For a fixed integer r,r, define the prime-counting function as πE,r(x):=px,pΔE,ap=r1\pi_{E,r}(x):=\sum_{p\leq x,p\nmid \Delta_E,a_p=r}1. The Lang-Trotter Conjecture predicts that πE,r(x)=CE,rxlogx+o(xlogx)\pi_{E,r}(x)=C_{E,r}\cdot \frac{\sqrt{x}}{{\rm log}x}+o(\frac{\sqrt{x}}{{\rm log}x}) as x,x\longrightarrow \infty, where CE,rC_{E,r} is a specific non-negative constant. The Hardy-Littlewood Conjecture gives a similar asymptotic formula as above for the number of primes of the form ax2+bx+cax^2+bx+c. We establish a relationship between the Hardy-Littlewood Conjecture and the Lang-Trotter Conjecture for the elliptic curve y2=x3+Dx.y^2=x^3+Dx. We show that the Hardy-Littlewood Conjecture implies the Lang-Trotter Conjecture for y2=x3+Dx.y^2=x^3+Dx. Conversely, if the Lang-Trotter Conjecture holds for some DD and 2r2r (for y2=x3+Dx,pD,apy^2=x^3+Dx, p\nmid D, a_p is always even) with positive constant CE,2r,C_{E,2r}, then the polynomial x2+r2x^2+r^2 represents infinitely many primes. For a prime pp, if ap=2ra_p=2r, then pp is necessarily of the form x2+r2x^2+r^2. Fixing rr and DD, and assuming that the Hardy-Littlewood Conjecture holds, we obtain the density of the primes with ap=2ra_p=2r inside the set of primes of the form x2+r2x^2+r^2. In some cases, the density is 1/41/4, which is a natural expectation, but it fails to be true for all DD. In particular, we give a full list of DD and rr when there is no prime pp for ap=2ra_p=2r.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2108.06292,
  title  = {The Lang-Trotter Conjecture for the elliptic curve $y^2=x^3+Dx$},
  author = {Hourong Qin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2108.06292},
  year   = {2021}
}