On the representation of the number of integral points of an elliptic curve modulo a prime number (Q2017998)

The goal of this paper is to give formulas for the number of solutions to the congruence \(y^2 \equiv x^3+ax+b \pmod{p}\), where \(x,y \in \{0,1,\ldots, p-1\}\), or equivalently, the number of \(\mathbb{F}_p\)-rational points of the corresponding elliptic curve. Counting the point at infinity, the number of such points can be expressed as \[ N_p = 1 + \frac{1}{p} \sum_{x,y = 0}^{p-1} \sum_{m=0}^{p-1} e^{2\pi i m \left(y^2-(x^3+ax+b)\right)/p}. \] Let \(B_n\) denote the \(n\)th Bernoulli number. The author uses the fact that \[ \frac{z}{e^z-1} + \frac{z}{2} = 1 + \sum_{n \geq 2} \frac{B_n}{n!} z^n, \] for \(z\in \mathbb{C}\) with \(|z| < 2\pi\), and the functional equation for the Riemann zeta function, to prove that if \[ \tilde{f}(x) = \left| \frac{x^3+ax+b}{p^2} \right| < p \] for all \(x \in \{0,1,\ldots, p-1\}\), then \(N_p\) can be expressed in terms of functions involving the expression \[ S(x,p) = \sum_{n \text{ odd} } \frac{\zeta(n+1) \tilde{f}(x)^{n+1}}{p^n}. \] The author gives similar formulas in the case where \(x^3+ax+b\) is strictly increasing or strictly decreasing over the values of \(x \in \{0,1,\ldots, p-1\}\). The author investigates \(S(x,p)\), approximating it with rational functions.