Specializations of a generic rank-2 curve of Shioda (Q6065147)

The author considers the family of elliptic curves given by the equation \[ y^2=a(x+a)(x+b)+m^2, \] where \(a,b\) are non-zero and distinct integers and \(m\) is a integer such that the polynomial \(a(x+a)(x+b)+m^2\) is square-free. A special case, when \((a,b)=(1,-1)\), has already been studied by \textit{E. Brown} and \textit{B. T. Myers} [Am. Math. Mon. 109, No. 7, 639--649 (2002; Zbl 1083.11037)], and it was proved that the resulting curves have rank at least \(2\) (over \(\mathbb{Q}\)). Moreover, in previous work [\textit{P. G. Walsh}, Integers 22, Paper A12, 5 p. (2022; Zbl 1509.11046)], the author proved that there exists a computable constant \(C(a,b)\), depending on \(a\) and \(b\), such that all curves that belong to the above family have rank at least \(2\), provided that \(m>C(a,b)\). In this paper, specific conditions on \(a\) and \(b\) that can force the elliptic curves to have higher rank are investigated. Three types of subfamilies, referred to as type I, II, and II curves, respectively, are studied. For type I curves, it is proved in [\textit{P. G. Walsh}, Rad Hrvat. Akad. Znan. Umjet., Mat. Znan. 555(27), 81--85 (2023; Zbl 1524.11123)], under certain irreducibility conditions, that for sufficiently large \(m\), the resulting curves have \(3\) linearly independent points. Moreover, for curves of type II and III, computations suggest that they have \(3\) and \(4\) linearly independent points, respectively. In Section \(4\), some very interesting computational results relating to the three types are mentioned, while a conjecture for higher genera is also formulated.