On rational torsion points of central \(\mathbb Q\)-curves (Q1011965)

Let \(E\) be an elliptic curve over a number field \(K\) such that \([K: Q]=d\). Then \(E(K)_{\text{tors}}\) is a finite group and a natural question is to find the possible prime divisors of its order. For \(K=\mathbb Q\), classical work of B. Mazur shows that each prime divisor of \(\#E(\mathbb Q)_{\text{tors}}\) is at most 7. If \(K\) is a quadratic extension of \(\mathbb Q\) (i.e., \(d=2\)), then work of S. Kamienny implies that each prime divisor of \(\#E(K)_{\text{tors}}\) is at most 13. On the other hand, for arbitrary \(K\), J. Oesterlé obtained the upper bound \(\#E(K)_{\text{tors}}\leq (1+3^{d/2})^{2}\). The purpose of this paper is to improve upon Oesterlé's bound when the curve \(E\) is restricted to the class of \(\mathbb Q\)-curves without complex multiplications. Each curve in this class is isogenous to a so-called \textit{central \(\mathbb Q\)-curve} defined over a polyquadratic field \(K\) of degree \(d\) over \(\mathbb Q\) (a central \(\mathbb Q\)-curve is an elliptic curve \(E\) over \(\overline{\mathbb Q}\) such that, for every \(\sigma\in G_{\mathbb Q}=\text{Gal}(\overline{\mathbb Q}/\mathbb Q)\), there exists an isogeny \(\phi_{\sigma}: E^{\,\sigma}\rightarrow E\) of \textit{squarefree degree \(d_{\sigma}\)}). Assume that \(K\) is the minimal field of definition of \(E\). Then one of the main results of this paper is the following: if \(p\) divides \(\#E(K)_{\text{tors}}\), then either (a) \(p\leq 13\), (b) \(p=2^{m+2}+1,3\cdot 2^{m+2}+1\) for some integer \(m\leq\text{log}_{2}d\), or (c) a certain character \(\varepsilon\) attached to \(E\) is real quadratic and \(p\) divides the generalized Bernoulli number \(B_{2,\varepsilon}\). The other main result of the paper is the following: assume that each \(d_{\sigma}\) (the degree of the isogeny \(\phi_{\sigma}\)) divides \(\#E(K)_{\text{tors}}\). Let \(N\) be the product of all prime divisors of \(\#E(K)_{\text{tors}}\). Then \(N=1,2,3,5,6,7,10\) if \(d=1\), \(N=2,3,6,14\) if \(d=2\), \(N=6\) if \(d=4\) and \(N\) is empty if \(d\geq 8\). Each case in the above list occurs.