A conditional determination of the average rank of elliptic curves

Under a hypothesis which is slightly stronger than the Riemann Hypothesis for elliptic curve $L$-functions, we show that both the average analytic rank and the average algebraic rank of elliptic curves in families of quadratic twists are exactly $\frac 12$. As a corollary we obtain that under this last hypothesis, the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture holds for almost all curves in our family, and that asymptotically one half of these curves have algebraic rank $0$, and the remaining half $1$. We also prove an analogous result in the family of all elliptic curves. A way to interpret our results is to say that nonreal zeros of elliptic curve $L$-functions in a family have a direct influence on the average rank in this family. Results of Katz-Sarnak and of Young constitute a major ingredient in the proofs.Comment: 27 page

Towards an 'average' version of the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture

The Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture states that the rank of the Mordell-Weil group of an elliptic curve E equals the order of vanishing at the central point of the associated L-function L(s,E). Previous investigations have focused on bounding how far we must go above the central point to be assured of finding a zero, bounding the rank of a fixed curve or on bounding the average rank in a family. Mestre showed the first zero occurs by O(1/loglog(N_E)), where N_E is the conductor of E, though we expect the correct scale to study the zeros near the central point is the significantly smaller 1/log(N_E). We significantly improve on Mestre's result by averaging over a one-parameter family of elliptic curves, obtaining non-trivial upper and lower bounds for the average number of normalized zeros in intervals on the order of 1/log(N_E) (which is the expected scale). Our results may be interpreted as providing further evidence in support of the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, as well as the Katz-Sarnak density conjecture from random matrix theory (as the number of zeros predicted by random matrix theory lies between our upper and lower bounds). These methods may be applied to additional families of L-functions.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures, revised first draft (fixed some typos

Discretisation for odd quadratic twists

The discretisation problem for even quadratic twists is almost understood, with the main question now being how the arithmetic Delaunay heuristic interacts with the analytic random matrix theory prediction. The situation for odd quadratic twists is much more mysterious, as the height of a point enters the picture, which does not necessarily take integral values (as does the order of the Shafarevich-Tate group). We discuss a couple of models and present data on this question.Comment: To appear in the Proceedings of the INI Workshop on Random Matrix Theory and Elliptic Curve

A database of genus 2 curves over the rational numbers

We describe the construction of a database of genus 2 curves of small discriminant that includes geometric and arithmetic invariants of each curve, its Jacobian, and the associated L-function. This data has been incorporated into the L-Functions and Modular Forms Database (LMFDB).Comment: 15 pages, 7 tables; bibliography formatting and typos fixe

Pseudospherical surfaces with singularities

We study a generalization of constant Gauss curvature -1 surfaces in Euclidean 3-space, based on Lorentzian harmonic maps, that we call pseudospherical frontals. We analyze the singularities of these surfaces, dividing them into those of characteristic and non-characteristic type. We give methods for constructing all non-degenerate singularities of both types, as well as many degenerate singularities. We also give a method for solving the singular geometric Cauchy problem: construct a pseudospherical frontal containing a given regular space curve as a non-degenerate singular curve. The solution is unique for most curves, but for some curves there are infinitely many solutions, and this is encoded in the curvature and torsion of the curve.Comment: 26 pages, 11 figures. Version 3: examples added (new Section 6). Introduction section revise