On a dynamical Brauer-Manin obstruction (Q1032679)

This paper investigates an analogue of the Brauer--Manin obstruction, well known in the study of rational points on varieties, in the setting of arithmetic dynamics. That setting is as follows: \(K\) is a number field, \(X\) a projective variety over \(K\), and \(\phi: X \to X\) a morphism of infinite order. A subvariety \(V\) of \(X\) is called \textit{preperiodic} for \(\phi\) if there exist positive integers \(m,n\) such that \(\phi^m(V) = \phi^n(V)\). Now let \({\mathbf A}_K\) denote the ring of adèles of \(K\). For any point \(P \in X(K)\), let \({\mathcal O}_\phi(P)\) denote the orbit of \(P\) under repeated application of \(\phi\), and let \(C({\mathcal O}_\phi(P))\) denote its closure in the adelic topology on \(X({\mathbf A}_K)\). Suppose that \(V\) contains no preperiodic subvarieties of positive dimension. By analogy with a description of the Brauer--Manin obstruction for curves by \textit{V. Scharaschkin} [PhD thesis, Univ. Michigan, 1999], the authors say that \(V(K)\) is \textit{Brauer--Manin unobstructed} for \(\phi\) if, for every point \(P \in X(K)\), we have \[ {\mathcal O}_\phi(P) \cap V(K) = C({\mathcal O}_\phi(P)) \cap V({\mathbf A}_K). \] The authors then describe several situations when \(V(K)\) is Brauer--Manin unobstructed. The first two situations have \(X={\mathbb P}^2\) and \(\phi: X \to X\) the \(d\)th-power morphism for some \(d\geq 2\). Theorem~4 states that, when \(V \subset {\mathbb P}_K^2\) is a translated torus which is non-preperiodic for \(\phi\), then \(V(K)\) is Brauer--Manin unobstructed. Theorem~7 states that, when \(V \subset {\mathbb P}_K^2\) is a straight line of the form \(AX + BY + CZ = 0\) with \(ABC \neq 0\), then the property above holds at least for certain special points \(P\). The proofs of both these results depend on the theorem of Bang and Zsigmondy stated in this article as Theorem~5: that, given a number field \(K\) and an element \(\lambda \in K^\times\) which is not a root of unity, all but finitely many positive integers occur as the order of \(\lambda\) modulo some prime of \(K\). A version of the Bang--Zsigmondy theorem for elliptic curves is also known, and is stated in this article as Theorem~8. This allows the authors to deduce the following Brauer--Manin type result for Abelian varieties: Theorem~9. Let \(K/{\mathbb Q}\) be a number field, let \(A/K\) be an Abelian variety, and let \(B/K\) be an Abelian subvariety of \(A\) of codimension \(1\). We fix a point \(T \in A(K)\) and let \(V = B+T\) be the translation of \(B\) by \(T\). Let \(\phi: A \to A\) be the multiplication-by-\(d\) map, and let \(P \in A(K)\) be a non-torsion point. Then either \({\mathcal O}_\phi(P) \cap V(K) = C({\mathcal O}_\phi(P)) \cap V({\mathbf A}_K)\), or \(V\) is preperiodic for \(\phi\). The final result of this article, Theorem~11, applies when \(V\) is a more general subvariety of an Abelian variety. It states, roughly, that if \(V(K)\) is Brauer--Manin unobstructed in \(A(K)\), in a sense similar to that described by Scharaschkin, then orbits of multiplication maps are Brauer--Manin unobstructed in the dynamical sense.