Index form surfaces and construction of elliptic curves over large finite fields (Q2765013)

Let \(K\) be a number field of degree \(n\) over \(\mathbb Q\) and \(I(x_1,\ldots,x_{n-1})\in {\mathbb Z}[x_1,\ldots,x_{n-1}]\) the index form (of degree \(n(n-1)/2\)) associated to a certain fixed integral basis of \(K\). There are numerous results concerning the solution of index form Diophantine equations \(I(x_1,\ldots,x_{n-1})=m\) when \(m\) is a nonzero integer. However, even for \(n=4\), the explicit solution of an index form equation is a complicated task. ``Therefore [from the author's introduction] we must understand better the structure of the index form if we want to find the solutions of index form equations. [\(\ldots\)] NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEWe show in this note that if \(K\) is a quartic extension of \(\mathbb Q\), then the surface defined by the equation \(I(x_1,\ldots,x_{n-1})=m\not=0\) has a nice geometric structure: it is either empty or an elliptic surface, i.e. can be uniquely covered by elliptic curves. Exactly this structure makes relatively simple the computation of integer points on such a surface. This observation is behind the result of \textit{I. Gaál, A. Pethő} and \textit{M. Pohst} [On the resolution of index form equations in quartic number fields, J. Symb. Comput. 16, 563-584 (1993; Zbl 0808.11023)]. We present the geometrical structure theorem in a more general context. [\(\ldots\)] NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEIn the last section we collect some observations of P. Nagy who performed computations concerning index form surfaces over finite fields''.NEWLINENEWLINEFor the entire collection see [Zbl 0976.00054].