Heegner modules and elliptic curves (Q1889982)

The points of departure of this extensive research monograph are two milestones in the arithmetic theory of elliptic curves, namely {\parindent=7mm \begin{itemize}\item[(1)] V. G. Drinfeld's proof of an important case of the Langlands conjecture for \(\text{GL}_2\) over a global field of positive characteristic [cf.: \textit{V. G. Drinfeld}, Elliptic modules, Math. USSR, Sb. 23, 561--592 (1974); translation from Mat. Sb., N. Ser. 94(136), 594--627 (1974; Zbl 0321.14014)], on the one hand, and \item[(2)] \textit{V. A. Kolyvagin's} proof of the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture for a class of Weil elliptic curves over \(\mathbb{Q}\) [Math. USSR, Izv. 32, No. 3, 523--541 (1989); translation from Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Ser. Mat. 52, No. 3, 522--540 (1988; Zbl 0662.14017)] on the other. \end{itemize}} Drinfeld's work implies that an elliptic curve \(E\) over a global field \(F\) of positive characteristic with split multiplicative reduction at a place can be represented as an image of a Drinfeld modular curve, where the analogues of Heegner points on elliptic curves over \(\mathbb{Q}\) may be then constructed on the curve \(E\) as the so-called Drinfeld-Heegner points. The latter special points satisfy certain relations given by the action of Hecke operators on Drinfeld modular curves, which the author of the monograph, under review uses to define, by generators and just these relations, the concept of a ``Heegner module'' attached to the elliptic curve \(E\). In this context the Drinfeld-Heegner points of \(E\) generate a subgroup of \(E\) which appears as a homomorphic image of the Heegner module. Furthermore, for the case of Weil elliptic curves over the rational field \(\mathbb{Q}\) the Heegner module of such a curve is generated by the corresponding Heegner points. With a view to these crucial interrelations, the objective of the author's present work is to develop a systematic theory of Heegner modules of elliptic curves on its own, and to show how it can be applied to obtain a proof of the celebrated Tate conjecture for a certain class of elliptic surfaces over a finite field. As it turns out, this case of the Tate conjecture is essentially equivalent to the conjecture of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer for a related class of elliptic curves over global fields, which leads to a suitable adaption of V. A. Kolyvagin's method of Euler systems, and it is also equivalent to the finiteness of the Tate-Shafarevich groups of these elliptic curves. The main technical ingredient of the author's approach is the effective computation of the cohomology of Heegner modules of elliptic curves over a global field as a certain Galois module, which is then applied to investigate the cohomology of the elliptic curves themselves. As to the contents of this fundamental, utmost comprehensive research monograph, the material is organized in seven chapters and two supplementing appendices. Chapter 1 gives a detailed introduction to the subject of the book, including the involved basic concepts and conjectures as well as the statement of the author's main result and an outline of the strategy of its proof. Chapter 2 summarizes the necessary preliminaries on orders in quadratic extension fields, ring class fields, complex multiplication of Drinfeld modules, and Drinfeld modular curves. Chapter 3 is devoted to Bruhat-Tits trees with complex multiplication and their classification, with special emphasis on endomorphism rings of certain lattices in quadratic extension fields of global fields. Chapter 4 treats then Drinfeld-Heegner points, Hecke operators, Bruhat-Tits nets, Drinfeld modular curves, and the concept of general Heegner sheaves. Heegner, modules of elliptic curves, the main subject of the entire treatise, are introduced and studied in Chapter 5, along with their relations to Galois representations, Galois cohomology, Kolyvagin elements, and Heener sheaves as constructed in the previous chapter. Chapter 6 is the technical heart of the book, as it provides the afore-mentioned crucial computations of the cohomology of Heegner modules. The concluding Chapter 7 deals with concrete applications of the foregoing results on Heegner modules to the study of Tate-Shafarevich groups of elliptic curves over the rational field \(\mathbb{Q}\), culminating in the author's main theorem on the correctness of the Tate conjecture for certain elliptic surfaces over finite fields. As already pointed out above, the author's novel method of Heegner modules makes it possible to give a proof that is largely parallel to Kolyvagin's proof of the conjecture of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer for a class of Weil elliptic curves over \(\mathbb{Q}\). In fact, the author's proof is based on verifying the finiteness of the Tate-Shafarevich groups of the occurring elliptic curves. The two appendices at the end of the book are to recall some fundamental concepts, methods, and results that are essentially used in the course of the text. Appendix A gives a brief account of rigid analytic spaces and their étale cohomology, rigid analytic modular forms, related moduli schemes, Eisenstein series, and Hecke operators. Appendix B provides some basic material on automorphic forms and elliptic curves over function fields, including moduli of Drinfeld modules with level structure, Drinfeld's classical proof of the Langlands conjecture for \(\text{GL}_2\) of global fields in characteristic \(p> 0\), and a brief outlook to the generalization of Drinfeld's work to the Langlands conjecture for \(\text{GL}_n\) by \textit{L. Lafforgue} [Invent. Math. 147, No. 1, 1--241 (2002; Zbl 1038.11075)]. Although being written in very comprehensive, detailed and lucid a manner, this text requires quite a large amount of advanced prerequisites. A profound familiarity with algebraic scheme theory, class field theory, group cohomology, étale cohomology, Drinfeld modules, Heegner points of elliptic curves over \(\mathbb{Q}\) and Kolyvagin's method of Euler systems seems to be indispensable for a thorough understanding of the entire text. However, as the author points out, it is unnecessary to read the whole text in order to follow the proof of his main theorem on the Tate conjecture for a class of elliptic surfaces, and he gives a precise guide to those readers who are mainly interested in this part of the book. Finally, Chapter 7 of the current text may be regarded as a sequel to the author's earlier work [Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 69, No. 3, 489--514 (1994; Zbl 0842.14011)] from twelve years ago, in which he treated the special case of the Tate conjecture for elliptic surfaces equipped with a rational pencil of elliptic curves.