Common Divisors of Elliptic Divisibility Sequences over Function Fields

Joseph H. Silverman

Published 2004-02-02Version 1

Let E/k(T) be an elliptic curve defined over a rational function field of characteristic zero. Fix a Weierstrass equation for E. For points R in E(k(T)), write x_R=A_R/D_R^2 with relatively prime polynomials A_R(T) and D_R(T) in k[T]. The sequence {D_{nR}) for n \ge 1 is called the ``elliptic divisibility sequence of R.'' Let P,Q in E(k(T)) be independent points. We conjecture that deg (gcd(D_{nP},D_{mQ})) is bounded for m,n \ge 1, and that gcd(D_{nP},D_{nQ}) = gcd(D_{P},D_{Q}) for infinitely many n \ge 1. We prove these conjectures in the case that j(E) is in k. More generally, we prove analogous statements with k(T) replaced by the function field of any curve and with P and Q allowed to lie on different elliptic curves. If instead k is a finite field of characteristic p, and again assuming that j(E) is in k, we show that deg (gcd(D_{nP},D_{nQ})) > n + O(sqrt{n}) for infinitely many n satisfying gcd(n,p) = 1.