Orbits of points on certain K3 surfaces

In this paper we show that, for a K3 surface within a certain class of surfaces and over a number field, the orbit of a point under the group of automorphisms is either finite or its exponent of growth is exactly the Hausdorff dimension of a fractal associated to the ample cone. In particular, the exponent depends on the geometry of the surface and not its arithmetic. For surfaces in this class, the exponent is 0.6527±0.0012.     

Rational points of bounded height on projective surfaces

We give upper bounds for the number of rational points of bounded height on the complement of the lines on projective surfaces.     

Fundamental groups of open K3 surfaces, Enriques surfaces and Fano 3-folds

We investigate when the fundamental group of the smooth part of a K3 surface or Enriques surface with Du Val singularities, is finite. As a corollary we give an effective upper bound for the order of the fundamental group of the smooth part of a certain Fano 3-fold. This result supports Conjecture A below, while Conjecture A (or alternatively the rational-connectedness conjecture in Kollar et al. (J. Algebra Geom. 1 (1992) 429) which is still open when the dimension is at least 4) would imply that every log terminal Fano variety has a finite fundamental group.     

Torsion points on families of products of elliptic curves

In a recent paper we proved a special case of a variant of Pink's Conjecture for a variety inside a semiabelian scheme: namely for any curve inside any scheme isogenous to a fibred product of two isogenous elliptic schemes. Here we go ahead with the programme of settling the conjecture for general abelian surface schemes by completing the proof for all non-simple surfaces. This involves some entirely new and crucial issues.     

On primitive points of elliptic curves with complex multiplication

Let E be an elliptic curve defined over Q and P∈E(Q) a rational point of infinite order. Suppose that E has complex multiplication by an order in the imaginary quadratic field k. Denote by M_E,P the set of rational primes ? such that ? splits in k, E has good reduction at ?, and P is a primitive point modulo ?. Under the generalized Riemann hypothesis, we can determine the positivity of the density of the set M_E,P explicitly.     

On the number of rational points of a plane algebraic curve

The number of F_q -rational points of a plane non-singular algebraic curve defined over a finite field F_q is computed, provided that the generic point of is not an inflexion and that is Frobenius non-classical with respect to conics. Received: 18 March 2003     

Finding rational points on bielliptic genus 2 curves

We discuss a technique for trying to find all rational points on curves of the form Y ²=f ₃ X ⁶+f ₂ X ⁴+f ₁ X ²+f ₀, where the sextic has nonzero discriminant. This is a bielliptic curve of genus 2. When the rank of the Jacobian is 0 or 1, Chabauty's Theorem may be applied. However, we shall concentrate on the situation when the rank is at least 2. In this case, we shall derive an associated family of elliptic curves, defined over a number field ℚα. If each of these elliptic curves has rank less than the degree of ℚα : ℚ, then we shall describe a Chabauty-like technique which may be applied to try to find all the points (x,y) defined over ℚα) on the elliptic curves, for which x∈ℚ. This in turn allows us to find all ℚ-rational points on the original genus 2 curve. We apply this to give a solution to a problem of Diophantus (where the sextic in X is irreducible over ℚ), which simplifies the recent solution of Wetherell. We also present two examples where the sextic in X is reducible over ℚ. Received: 27 November 1998 / Revised version: 4 June 1999     

Elliptic units in K2

We present certain norm-compatible systems in K₂ of function fields of some CM elliptic curves. We demonstrate that these systems have some properties similar to elliptic units.     

Cubic surfaces violating the Hasse principle are Zariski dense in the moduli scheme

We construct new examples of cubic surfaces, for which the Hasse principle fails. Thereby we show that, over every number field, the counterexamples to the Hasse principle are Zariski dense in the moduli scheme of non-singular cubic surfaces.     

Higher Heegner points on elliptic curves over function fields

Let E be a modular elliptic curve defined over a rational function field k of odd characteristic. We construct a sequence of Heegner points on E, defined over a -tower of finite extensions of k, and show that these Heegner points generate a group of infinite rank. This is a function field analogue of a result of Cornut and Vatsal.     

A nondensity property of preperiodic points on Chebyshev dynamical systems

Let k be a number field with algebraic closure , and let S be a finite set of primes of k, containing all the infinite ones. Consider a Chebyshev dynamical system on P². Fix the effective divisor D of P² that is equal to a line nondegenerate on²[−2,2]. Then we will prove that the set of preperiodic points on which are S-integral relative to D is not Zariski dense in P².     

Height difference bounds for elliptic curves over number fields

Let E be an elliptic curve over a number field K. Let h be the logarithmic (or Weil) height on E and be the canonical height on E. Bounds for the difference are of tremendous theoretical and practical importance. It is possible to decompose as a weighted sum of continuous bounded functions Ψ_υ:E(K_υ)→R over the set of places υ of K. A standard method for bounding , (due to Lang, and previously employed by Silverman) is to bound each function Ψ_υ and sum these local ‘contributions’.In this paper, we give simple formulae for the extreme values of Ψ_υ for non-archimedean υ in terms of the Tamagawa index and Kodaira symbol of the curve at υ.For real archimedean υ a method for sharply bounding Ψ_υ was previously given by Siksek [Rocky Mountain J. Math. 25(4) (1990) 1501]. We complement this by giving two methods for sharply bounding Ψ_υ for complex archimedean υ.     

Torsion points on the jacobian of a Fermat quotient

Let p≥5 be a prime, ζ a primitive pth root of unity and λ=1−ζ. For 1≤s≤p−2, the smooth projective model C_p,s of the affine curve v^p=u^s(1−u) is a curve of genus (p−1)/2 whose jacobian J_p,s has complex multiplication by the ring of integers of the cyclotomic field Q(ζ). In 1981, Greenberg determined the field of rationality of the p-torsion subgroup of J_p,s and moreover he proved that the λ³-torsion points of J_p,s are all rational over Q(ζ). In this paper we determine quite explicitly the λ³-torsion points of J_p,1 for p=5 and p=7, as well as some further p-torsion points which have interesting arithmetical applications, notably to the complementary laws of Kummer’s reciprocity for pth powers.     

Torsion points on elliptic curves over function fields and a theorem of Igusa

If F   is a global function field of characteristic p>3$p>3$, we employ Tate's theory of analytic uniformization to give an alternative proof of a theorem of Igusa describing the image of the natural Galois representation on torsion points of non-isotrivial elliptic curves defined over F. Along the way, using basic properties of Faltings heights of elliptic curves, we offer a detailed proof of the function field analogue of a classical theorem of Shafarevich according to which there are only finitely many F-isomorphism classes of admissible elliptic curves defined over F with good reduction outside a fixed finite set of places of F. We end the paper with an application to torsion points rational over abelian extensions of F.     

Pesenti-Szpiro inequality for optimal elliptic curves

We study Pesenti-Szpiro inequality in the case of elliptic curves over F_q(t) which occur as subvarieties of Jacobian varieties of Drinfeld modular curves. In general, we obtain an upper-bound on the degrees of minimal discriminants of such elliptic curves in terms of the degrees of their conductors and q. In the special case when the level is prime, we bound the degrees of discriminants only in terms of the degrees of conductors. As a preliminary step in the proof of this latter result we generalize a construction (due to Gekeler and Reversat) of 1-dimensional optimal quotients of Drinfeld Jacobians.     

Torsion points on some abelian surfaces of CM-type

Let A be a two-dimensional abelian variety of CM-type defined over Q, which is not simple over C. Let p be a prime number. We show that torsion points of A(Q) of prime order p are possible only for p≦7.     

Some Artin-Schreier type function fields over finite fields with prescribed genus and number of rational places

We give existence and characterization results for some Artin-Schreier type function fields over finite fields with prescribed genus and number of rational places simultaneously.