Related papers: Higher Descent on Pell Conics III. The First 2-Des…

The aim of this article is to show that the arithmetic of Pell conics admits a description which is completely analogous to that of elliptic curves: there is a theory of 2-descent with associated Selmer and Tate-Shafarevich groups, and…

We discuss the history of attempts to solve the Pell equation using certain auxiliary equations that correspond, in modern terminology, to a second 2-descent.

Let p be a prime and let C be a genus one curve over a number field k representing an element of order dividing p in the Shafarevich-Tate group of its Jacobian. We describe an algorithm which computes the set of D in the Shafarevich-Tate…

Franz Lemmermeyer's previous work laid the framework for a description of the arithmetic of Pell conics, which is analogous to that of elliptic curves. He describes a group law on conics and conjectures the existence of an analogous…

For the hyperelliptic curve C_p with equation y^2=x(x-2p)(x-p)(x+p)(x+2p) with p a prime number, we discuss bounds for the rank of its Jacobian over Q, find many cases having 2-torsion in the associated Shafarevich-Tate group, and we…

Let E be an elliptic curve over Q (or, more generally, a number field). Then on the one hand, we have the finitely generated abelian group E(Q), on the other hand, there is the Shafarevich-Tate group Sha(Q,E). Descent is a general method of…

We give a construction of unramified cyclic octic extensions of certain complex quadratic number fields. The binary quadratic form used in this construction also shows up in the theory of 2-descents on Pell conics and elliptic curves, as…

This is an updated version of ANT-0166. Generalizing results of Stroeker and Top we show that the 2-ranks of the Tate-Shafarevich groups of the elliptic curves $y^2 = (x+k)(x^2+k^2)$ can become arbitrarily large. We also present a…

For any number field, we prove that there exists an elliptic curve defined over this field such that its Shafarevich-Tate group has a nontrivial 2-torsion subgroup.

We extend the method of Cassels for computing the Cassels-Tate pairing on the 2-Selmer group of an elliptic curve, to the case of 3-Selmer groups. This requires significant modifications to both the local and global parts of the…

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…

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…

We study elliptic curves of the form $x^3+y^3=2p$ and $x^3+y^3=2p^2$ where $p$ is any odd prime satisfying $p\equiv 2\bmod 9$ or $p\equiv 5\bmod 9$. We first show that the $3$-part of the Birch-Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture holds for these…

For an abelian variety A over a number field k we discuss the divisibility in H^1(k,A) of elements of the subgroup Sha(A/k). The results are most complete for elliptic curves over Q.

Let $E$ be an elliptic curve over a number field $K$. Descent calculations on $E$ can be used to find upper bounds for the rank of the Mordell-Weil group, and to compute covering curves that assist in the search for generators of this…

For an abelian variety A over a number field k we discuss the maximal divisibile subgroup of H^1(k,A) and its intersection with the subgroup Sha(A/k). The results are most complete for elliptic curves over Q.

Let h be a p-isogeny of elliptic curves. We describe how to perform h-descents on the nontrivial elements in the Shafarevich-Tate group which are killed by the dual isogeny h'. This makes computation of p-Selmer groups of elliptic curves…

This article deals with the history of certain aspects of the Pell equation X$^2$ - D y$^2$ = 4. We briefly discuss explicit units, and then study the history of Legendre's equations ax$^2$ - b y$^2$ = 4 with ab=D.

We explain how recent work on 3-descent and 4-descent for elliptic curves over Q can be combined to search for generators of the Mordell-Weil group of large height. As an application we show that every elliptic curve of prime conductor in…

This paper introduces explicit Galois cohomological methods for determining the ranks of Bloch--Kato Selmer groups associated to the Tate twists of the 2-adic second \'etale cohomology of the Jacobian of a hyperelliptic curve with a…