Rational curves on elliptic surfaces

Douglas Ulmer

Published 2014-07-29, updated 2014-08-14Version 3

We prove that a very general elliptic surface $\mathcal{E}\to\mathbb{P}^1$ over the complex numbers with a section and with geometric genus $p_g\ge2$ contains no rational curves other than the section and components of singular fibers. Equivalently, if $E/\mathbb{C}(t)$ is a very general elliptic curve of height $d\ge3$ and if $L$ is a finite extension of $\mathbb{C}(t)$ with $L\cong\mathbb{C}(u)$, then the Mordell-Weil group $E(L)=0$.