The Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture for elliptic curves

he aim of this dissertation is to provide an exposition of the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture, considered by many to be one of the most important unsolved problems in modern Mathematics. A review of topics in Algebraic Number Theory and Algebraic Geometry is provided in order to provide a characterisation for elliptic curves over rational numbers. We investigate the group structure of rational points on elliptic curves, and show that this group is finitely generated by the Mordell-Weil Theorem. The Shafarevich-Tate group is introduced by way of an example. Thereafter, with the use of Galois Cohomology, we provide a general definition of this mysterious group. We also discuss invariants like the regulator and real period, which appear in the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture. After defining the L-function, we state the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture and discuss results which have been proved and some consequences. We discuss numerical verification of the Conjecture, and show some computations, including an example of our own.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of the Western Cape

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Smith, Duncan

• Elliptic curve
• Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture
• L-function
• modern Mathematics
• Algebraic Number Theory

Licence

• https://uwcscholar.uwc.ac.za/bitstreams/5926f36a-ddf0-465b-9353-85dab69c5887/download