Coincidences of division fields

Abstract: Let

E

be an elliptic curve defined over

m a t h b b Q

, and let

h o_{E} c o l o n m G a l (o v e r l i n e m a t h b b Q / m a t h b b Q) o m G L (2, w i d e h a t m a t h b b Z)

be the adelic representation associated to the natural action of Galois on the torsion points of

E (o v e r l i n e m a t h b b Q)

. By a theorem of Serre, the image of

h o_{E}

is open, but the image is always of index at least

2

in

m G L (2, w i d e h a t m a t h b b Z)

due to a certain quadratic entanglement amongst division fields. In this paper, we study other types of abelian entanglements. More concretely, we classify the elliptic curves

E / m a t h b b Q

, and primes

p

and

q

such that

m a t h b b Q (E [p]) c a p m a t h b b Q (z e t a_{q^{k}})

is non-trivial, and determine the degree of the coincidence. As a consequence, we classify all elliptic curves

E / m a t h b b Q

and integers

m, n

such that the

m

-th and

n

-th division fields coincide, i.e., when

m a t h b b Q (E [n]) = m a t h b b Q (E [m])

, when the division field is abelian.

Review text

The authors bring up two questions for division fields \(F_m=\mathbb Q(E[m])\) of a fixed elliptic curve \(E\) defined over \(\mathbb Q\); (1) Are there distinct integers \(n,m\ge 2\) such that \(F_n=F_m\) ? (2) Are there distinct prime numbers \(p,q\), and \(k\ge 1\) such that \(F_p\cap\mathbb Q(\zeta_q^k)\ne \mathbb Q\) ? Here \(\zeta_n\) is a primitive \(n\)-th root of unity. These questions are related to the size of the index \(d_E\) of the adelic Galois representation of \(E\). In fact, let \(\Delta_E\) is the minimal discriminant of \(E\). then \(F_2\cap\mathbb Q(\zeta_{4|\Delta_E|})\supset \mathbb Q(\sqrt{\Delta_E})\). This implies that \(d_E\ge 2\). Since Serre's result shows that for almost all \(m\), \(\mathrm{Gal}(F_m/\mathbb Q)\simeq \mathrm{GL}_2(\mathbb Z/m\mathbb Z)\), they point out that the affirmative answers of the questions are rare. Studying \(\mathrm{Gal}(F_m/\mathbb Q)\) as a subgroup of \(\mathrm{GL}_2(\mathbb Z/m\mathbb Z)\) and by using the fact that \(\zeta_m\in F_m\), they prove the following results. (1) For a prime number \(p\), if \(F_{p^n}=F_{p^{n+1}}\), then \(p=2,n=1\), and \(E\) is obtainable as a one parameter family. If \(F_{p^n}\supset\mathbb Q(\zeta_{p^{n+1}})\), then \(p=2\). For an elliptic curve \(y^2=x^3-11x-14\), \(F_{p^n}\supset\mathbb Q(\zeta_{p^{n+1}})\) for all \(n\). (2) For primes \(p<q\), if \(F_{p^n}=F_{q^m}\), then \(p^n=2,q^m=3\) and \(E\) is obtainable as a one parameter family. If \(F_p\supset \mathbb Q(\zeta_{q^{n}})\), then either \(\mathbb Q(\zeta_{q^{n}})=\mathbb Q,\mathbb Q(i)\) or \(\mathbb Q(\zeta_3)\), or \(E\) has a rational \(p\)-isogeny, \(p=,2,3,5,7,11,13,17, 19, 37,43,67\) or \(163\), and \(q^{n-1}(q-1)\) divides \(p-1\). Further for abelian division fields, (3) If \(F_n/\mathbb Q\) is abelian and \(F_n=F_m,n>m\ge 2\), then either \(m=2,n=4, F_4=\mathbb Q(i)\), or \(m=3,n=6\). In both cases, \(E\) is obtainable as a one parameter family. For a prime \(p\) such that \(F_p\) is abelian, if \(q\ne p\) is prime, then, \(F_p\cap\mathbb Q(\zeta_{q^k})\) can be trivial, quadratic, cubic (for \(p=2\)), or cyclic quartic (for \(p=5\)). Further, restricting to the range \(2\le m<n\le 10\), they show that if \(F_m=F_n\), then \((m,n)\in \{(2,3),(2,4),(2,6),(3,6),(4,6),(6,8),(6,9),(5,10)\}\).

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