computing the strongpstrong-selmer group of an elliptic curve.pdfVIP

Computing the p-Selmer Group of an Elliptic Curve † ‡ Z. Djabri , Edward Schaefer , Nigel Smart Extended Enterprise Laboratory HP Laboratories Bristol HPL-98-178(R.1) 26 May, 1999* elliptic curves, In this paper we explain how to bound the p-Selmer Selmer group, group of an elliptic curve over K, a number field. Our Mordell-Weil rank method is an algorithm which is relatively simple to implement, although it requires data such as units and class groups from number fields of degree at most p2 - 1. Our method is practical for p = 3 but for larger values of p becomes impractical with current computing power. In the examples we have calculated, our method produces exactly the p-Selmer group of the curve, and so one can use the method to find the Mordell-Weil rank of the curve when the usual method of 2-descent fails. † Institute of Maths and Statistics, University of Kent at Canterbury, Canterbury, Kent, UK ‡ Department of Mathematics, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA *Internal Accession Date Only Copyright Hewlett-Packard Company 1998 COMPUTING THE p-SELMER GROUP OF AN ELLIPTIC CURVE Z. DJABRI, EDWARD F. SCHAEFER AND N.P. SMART Abstract. In this pap er we explain how to b ound the p -Selmer group of an elliptic curve over K , a numb er eld. Our metho d is an algorithm which is relatively simple to implement, although it requires data such as units and class groups fr