English

Lower bounds for heights on some algebraic dynamical systems

Number Theory 2025-05-01 v2

Abstract

Let vv be a finite place of a number field KK and write Knr,vK^{nr,v} for the maximal field extension of KK in which vv is unramified. The purpose of this paper is split up into two parts. The first one generalizes a theorem of Pottmeyer: If EE is an elliptic curve defined over KK with split multiplicative reduction at vv, then the N\'eron-Tate height of a non-torsion point PE(Kˉ)P\in E(\bar{K}) is bounded from below by C/ev(P)2ev(P)+1C / e_v(P)^{2 e_v(P)+1}, where C>0C>0 is an absolute constant and ev(P)e_v(P) is the maximum of all ramification indices ew(K(P)K)e_w(K(P) \vert K) with wvw\vert v. Among other things, we refine this result by showing that given a simple abelian variety AA defined over KK that is degenerate at vv, the N\'eron-Tate height of a non-torsion point PA(Kˉ)P\in A(\bar{K}) is at least C/lcmwv{ew(K(P)K)}2C / \mathrm{lcm}_{w\vert v} \{e_w(K(P)\vert K)\}^2, where C>0C>0 is an absolute constant. We then give applications towards Lehmer's conjecture. Next, we provide the first examples of polynomials ϕK[X]\phi\in K[X] of degree at least 22 so that the canonical height h^ϕ\hat{h}_\phi of any point in \bbP1(Knr,v)\bbP^1(K^{nr,v}) is either 00 or bounded from below by an absolute positive constant.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2502.03039,
  title  = {Lower bounds for heights on some algebraic dynamical systems},
  author = {Arnaud Plessis and Satyabrat Sahoo},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.03039},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

Theorem 1.2 has been greatly improved. The first version dealt with lower bounds for the N\'eron-tate height on abelian varieties that are totally degenerate at some finite place $v$ of a number field $K$. In v2, we obtain the same lower bound for all abelian varieties over K whose simple abelian subvarieties of $A_{\bar{K}}$ are degenerate at some finite place of $\bar{K}$ lying over $v$

R2 v1 2026-06-28T21:33:15.251Z