On some congruence properties of elliptic curves (Q2267733): Difference between revisions

Let \(E:\;y^2=x^3+f(k)x+g(k)\) be an elliptic curve defined over \(\mathbb{Q}\) (\(f(k),\,g(k)\) can be viewed as the values at \(k\in \mathbb{Z}\) of two polynomials \(f(t),g(t)\in \mathbb{Z}[t]\,\)) and, for any prime \(p\), let \(E_p\) be the reduction of \(E\) at \(p\). In [J. Number Theory 128, No. 4, 945--953 (2008; Zbl 1213.11011)] the authors consider the following question: fix \(d,\alpha\in \mathbb{Z}\) with \(d>1\), is it possible to find \(E\) such that \(|E_p(\mathbb{F}_p)|\equiv \alpha\pmod d\) for almost all primes \(p\) ? This paper, using well known results of Mazur and Serre on the torsion structure of elliptic curves defined over \(\mathbb{Q}\) and on the action of \(\mathrm{Gal}(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}/\mathbb{Q})\) on \(E[d]\), shows that the answer is positive if and only if \(d\in \{ 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,12,16\}\) and \(\alpha\equiv 0\pmod d\) and also provides an explicit description for the curves \(E\). In the final section the author gives partial results and suggests conjectures for similar questions where the prime \(p\) varies only among the supersingular (or anly among the ordinary) primes.