A property of local Néron-Tate heights on abelian varieties (Q1909868)

Suppose \(K\) is the completion of a number field at a finite prime and \(E/K\) is an elliptic curve with good reduction. If \(h\) is the local height function on \(E\) corresponding to the divisor \(D= (0)\), then explicit formulas of Tate show that \[ \lim_{N\to \infty} {1\over {N^2}} \sum_{0\neq P\in E[ N]} h(P) =0. \] The limit on the left hand side arises in the computation of normalizations of local heights. The author proves a version of the equality above that is valid for abelian varieties of arbitrary dimension. In particular, he shows that if \(A\) is a \(g\)-dimensional abelian variety over \(K\) with good reduction, if \(h\) is the local height function on \(A\) corresponding to a divisor \(D\), and if \(p\) is the residue characteristic of \(K\), then \[ \lim_{\substack{ N\to \infty\\ N\not\equiv 0\bmod p}} {1\over {N^{2g}}} \sum_{\substack{ P\in A[ N]\\ P\not\in \text{Supp } D}} h(P) =0. \] The proof of this equality splits into two parts. In the first, the author shows that the number of non-zero terms in each sum is \(O( N^{2g- 2})\). In the second, he uses an argument involving the Greenberg functor [see \textit{M. J. Greenberg}, Ann. of Math., II. Ser. 73, 624-628 (1961; Zbl 0115.39004)] to show that the size of these terms is bounded above by a constant independent of \(N\). The proof of the theorem is preceded by an introduction that reviews the normalization of local height functions for elliptic curves and by a section that lists the properties of the Greenberg functor used in the paper.