Average rank of families of elliptic curves and Sato-Tate laws (Q1902524)

The author improves and generalizes previous results [\textit{E. Fouvry and J. Pomyakala}, Monatsh. Math. 116, 111-125 (1993; Zbl 0796.14022)] on the average of the rank of families of elliptic curves with polynomial coefficients. More precisely he considers families of elliptic curves with equations \[ E_t:y^2+a_1(t)xy+a_3(t)y=x^3+a_2(t)x^2+a_4(t)x+a_6(t), \] where \(a_1(t),\cdots,a_4(t),a_6(t)\in\mathbb{Z}[t]\) and \(t\in\mathbb{Z}\). Let \(p\) be a prime number, \(E_{p,t}\) the reduction of \(E_t\) modulo \(p\), \(N_{E_t}\) the conductor of \(E_t\), \(\Delta(t)\) the discriminant of \(E_t\) and \(p+1-a_{p,t}\) the number of \(\mathbb{F}_p\) rational points of \(E_{p,t}\). If \(p\) does not divide \(N_{E_t}\), then \(a_{p,t}=\sqrt p(e^{i\theta_{p,t}}+e^{-i\theta_{p,t}})\), where \(\theta_{p,t}\in[0,\pi]\), and if \(p\) divides \(N_{E_t}\), then \(a_{p,t}\in\{0,1,-1\}\). The author's first result shows that there exists an integer \(N\) such that for every prime number \(p\) not dividing \(N\), for each \(k\geq 1\) and for each additive character \(\psi_p\) of \(\mathbb{F}_p\) we have \[ \left|\sum_{t\in\mathbb{F}_p,\Delta(t)\neq 0}\text{sym}_k(\theta_{p,t})\psi_p(t)\right|\leq(k+1)(c_\Delta-\delta_{\psi_p}-1)\sqrt p, \] where \(\text{sym}_k(\theta)=\sin((k+1)\theta)/\sin(\theta)\), \(c_\Delta=\#\{z\in\mathbb{C} ; \Delta(z)\neq 0\}\), \(\delta_{\psi_p}=0\), if \(\psi_p\) is trivial, and \(\delta_{\psi_p}=1\), otherwise. When \(\psi_p\) is trivial this result shows that the set of angles \(\{\theta_{p,t}\}_{t\in\mathbb{F}_p,\Delta(t)\neq 0}\) when \(p\rightarrow\infty\) is equidistributed with respect to the Sato-Tate measure \(\sin^2\theta d\theta\). In the case where \(k=1\) and \(\psi_p\) is trivial, \(\text{sym}_1(\theta_{p,t})=a_{p,t}/\sqrt p\) and the author improves his result obtaining the inequality \[ \left|\sum_{t\in\mathbb{F}_p,\Delta(t)\neq 0}\frac{a_{p,t}}{\sqrt p}\right|\leq(c_\Delta+c_\Delta'-2)\sqrt p+c_\Delta, \] where \(c_\Delta'=\#\{z\in\mathbb{C}; g_2(z)=g_3(z)=0\}\) and \((y')^2=(x')^3-g_2(t)x'-g_3(t)\) is a Weierstrass normal form for \(E_t\). As a consequence of these two inequalities and under the assumption of the Taniyama-Shimura, Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjectures and the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis the author improves the result of Fouvry and Pomyakala obtaining: if \(j(t)\) is not constant, then when \(T\rightarrow+\infty\) \[ \sum_{t\in\mathbb{F}_p,\Delta(t)\neq 0}\text{rank}(E_t(\mathbb{Q}))\leq(\deg(\Delta)+c_\Delta+c_\Delta'-3/2) (1+o(1))2T. \]