Rational points on quadratic elliptic surfaces (Q2097303)

The paper under review deals with the rational points of quadratic elliptic surfaces. More precisely, quadratic elliptic surfaces defined over $\mathbb{Q}$ by equations of the form \[ y^2 = a_3(T)x^3 + a_2(T)x^2 + a_1(T)x + a_0(T) = A(x)T^2 + B(x)T + C(x), \] where $a_i(T)\in \mathbb{Q}[T]$ and $A(x), B(x), C(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$, with $\deg A(x) = 3$, $\deg B(x)\leq 3$, $\deg C(x) \leq 3$, are studied. Let \[ S = \{x \in \mathbb{Q} : B(x)^2- 4A(x)C(x) = 0 \ \text{ and }A(x)\text{ is a nonzero rational square}\}. \] Then, it is proved that the Mordell-Weil rank of the group $E(\mathbb{Q}(T ))$ is given by $\mathrm{rank}E(\mathbb{Q}(T )) = |S|$, if $B(x)^2- 4A(x)C(x)$ splits completely over $\mathbb{Q}$, and $|S| \leq \mathrm{rank}E(\mathbb{Q}(T )) \leq |S|+\delta$, otherwise, where $\delta$ is is the number of irreducible factors of $B(x)^2-4A(x)C(x)$ over $\mathbb{Q}$ with degree at least 2. In particular, we have $|S| \leq\mathrm{rank}(E(\mathbb{Q}(T ))) \leq |S| + 3$. A consequence of these results is the existence of quadratic elliptic surfaces with Mordell-Weil rank $r$ where $0 \leq r \leq 6$. The above results provide an improvement on the results of [\textit{J. Kollár} and \textit{M. Mella}, Am. J. Math. 139, No. 4, 915--936 (2017; Zbl 1388.14096)].