Families of cubic elliptic curves containing sequences of consecutive powers (Q2135991)

Let \(C:\;f(x,y)=0\), where \(f\in\mathbb{Q}[x,y]\), be a curve over \(\mathbb{Q}\). We say that the sequence of point \((x_{i}, y_{i}), i=1, \ldots, k\) forms a sequence of consecutive \(n\)-th powers on \(C\) of the length \(k\), if \(x_{i}=(i+g)^{n}\) for \(i=1, \ldots, k\) and some \(g\in\mathbb{Q}\). The authors of the paper concentrate on the case when \(C\) is an elliptic curve with the equation written in the form \(f(x,y)=y^2-F(x)\), where \(F\in\mathbb[x]\) is monic of degree three. The main result of the paper states that for each \(n\geq 2\), there is a one-parameter family of elliptic curves defined over \(\mathbb{Q}\) which contains an 8-term sequence of consecutive \(n\)-th powers. The method of construction relies on an already classical approach of \textit{J.-F. Mestre} [C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Sér. I 295, 643--644 (1982; Zbl 0541.14027)]. More precisely, if \(P\in\mathbb{Q}[x]\) is a given polynomial of degree \(2n\), then there exist unique polynomials \(Q, R\in\mathbb[x]\) such that \(P(x)=Q(x)^2-R(x)\) and \(R\) is of degree \(\leq n\). As an application, it is proved that for \(n=2\) and \(n=3\) the constructed families has generic rank \(\geq 6\) and \(\geq 7\), respectively.