Density of rational points on diagonal quartic surfaces (Q969261)

Let \(a,b,c,d\) be nonzero rational numbers such that \(abcd\) is a square and \(V\) the surface in \({\mathbb P}^3\) defined by the equation \(ax^4+by^4+cz^4+dw^4=0\). Suppose that \(V\) contains a rational point \(P = (x_0:y_0:z_0:w_0)\) with \(x_0y_0z_0w_0 \neq 0\) which does not lie on any of the 48 lines of the surface. In this paper, it is proved that the set of rational points of the surface is dense in both the Zariski and the real analytic topology. The authors exhibit two endomorphisms \(e_1\) and \(e_2\) of \(V\) such that \(e_1(P)\) and \(e_2(P)\) are two points over \({\mathbb Q}(\sqrt{abcd})\). Each of these points is the unique last point of intersection between \(V\) and one of the two tangent lines to the singular node in the intersection between \(V\) and the tangent plane to \(V\) at \(P\). The surface \(V\) has two elliptic fibrations and each fibration is fixed by one of \(e_1\) and \(e_2\). Let \(C_i\) be the fibre of the fibration fixed by \(e_i\) that passes through \(P\). This is a curve and its divisor \((e_i(P))-(P)\) is almost never a torsion divisor. Hence that fibres with rational points tend to have positive rank and the result follows.