Torsion points and Galois representations on CM elliptic curves (Q2306071)

This paper concerns rational torsion points of order \(N\) on elliptic curves \(E\) over a number field \(F\). They deal specifically with the case where \(E\) has complex multiplication (CM) and the CM is defined over \(F\). For each imaginary quadratic field \(K\), and for each order \(\mathcal{O}\) inside \(K\), there are a finite set of (geometric) isomorphism classes of elliptic curves with CM by \(\mathcal{O}\), each defined over a particular abelian extension \(K_\mathcal{O}\) of \(K\), called the ring class field. For every \(N\), the authors determine explicitly the smallest degree \(d\) for which there exists an extension \(F\) of degree \(d\) over \(H\) and a CM elliptic curve \(E/F\) with an \(F\)-rational point of order \(N\). In other words, they compute the minimal degree of a CM point (with CM by \(\mathcal{O}\)) on the modular curve \(X_1(N)\). Similarly, they describe the possible \(H\)-rational torsion subgroups of such elliptic curves, which gives a classification in the style of Mazur, but restricted to the CM case. These results are potentially useful, e.g., to those interested in understanding explicitly the ``sporadic'' points on modular curves, since it allows you to compute ahead of time how many sporadic CM points on your given modular curve you should expect to find. The proofs make use of class field theory and theory of complex multiplication, which gives a precise description for the action of the absolute Galois group on the torsion points of any such elliptic curve. This allows one to translate the question into a question about rank 1 modules over \(\mathcal{O}\), which can be made very explicit.