What we (don't) know about equations of degree three -- elliptic curves and the conjecture of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer (Q2918928)

This article introduces readers with a modest background in mathematics to the part of number theory dealing with the conjecture of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer. The author starts by explaining the most simple objects such as lines and conics (without mentioning their group laws), then introduces elliptic curves, discusses the group structure on their rational points, and mentions the theorems of Mordell (finite generation) and Mazur (torsion subgroup). Looking at elliptic curves \(E\) over finite fields one is led to the \(L\)-series attached to an elliptic curve, and finally to the conjecture of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer relating the Mordell-Weil rank of \(E\) and the order of vanishing of the \(L\)-function at \(s = 1\). The last section states that the conjecture of Beilinson (and its extension by Bloch and Kato) is a vast generalization of the conjecture of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer.NEWLINENEWLINEFor the entire collection see [Zbl 1222.00035].