Elliptic Curve
Elliptic Curve
Elliptic Curve
Elliptic curve
Group theory
In mathematics, an elliptic curve (EC) is a smooth, projective algebraic curve of genus one, on which there is a specified point O. An elliptic curve is in fact an abelian variety that is, it has a multiplication defined algebraically, with respect to which it is a (necessarily commutative) group and O serves as the identity element. Often the curve itself, without O specified, is called an elliptic curve. Any elliptic curve can be written as a plane algebraic curve defined by an equation of the form:
which is non-singular; that is, its graph has no cusps or self-intersections. A catalog of elliptic curves. Region shown is [3,3]2 (For a = 0 and b = 0 the function is (When the characteristic of the not smooth and therefore not an elliptic curve.) coefficient field is equal to 2 or 3, the above equation is not quite general enough to comprise all non-singular cubic curves; see below for a more precise definition.) The point O is actually the "point at infinity" in the projective plane. If y2 = P(x), where P is any polynomial of degree three in x with no repeated roots, then we obtain a nonsingular plane curve of genus one, which is thus also an elliptic curve. If P has degree four and is squarefree this equation again describes a plane curve of genus one; however, it has no natural choice of identity element. More generally, any algebraic curve of genus one, for example from the intersection of two quadric surfaces embedded in three-dimensional projective space, is called an elliptic curve, provided that it has at least one rational point. Using the theory of elliptic functions, it can be shown that elliptic curves defined over the complex numbers correspond to embeddings of the torus into the complex projective plane. The torus is also an abelian group, and in fact this correspondence is also a group isomorphism. Elliptic curves are especially important in number theory, and constitute a major area of current research; for example, they were used in the proof, by Andrew Wiles (assisted by Richard Taylor), of Fermat's Last Theorem. They also find applications in elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) and integer factorization. An elliptic curve is not an ellipse: see elliptic integral for the origin of the term. Topologically, an elliptic curve is a torus.
Elliptic curve
where a and b are real numbers. This type of equation is called a Weierstrass equation. The definition of elliptic curve also requires that the curve be non-singular. Geometrically, this means that the graph has no cusps, self-intersections, or isolated points. Algebraically, this involves calculating the discriminant
The curve is non-singular if and only if the discriminant is not equal to zero. (Although the factor 16 seems irrelevant here, it turns out to be convenient in a more advanced study of elliptic curves.) The (real) graph of a non-singular curve has two components if its discriminant is positive, and one component if it is negative. For example, in the graphs shown in figure to the right, the discriminant in the first case is 64, and in the second case is 368.
It is then possible to introduce a group operation, +, on the curve with the following properties: we consider the point at infinity to be 0, the identity of the group; and if a straight line intersects the curve at the points P, Q and R, then we require that P + Q + R = 0 in the group. One can check that this turns the curve into an abelian group, and thus into an abelian variety. It can be shown that the set of K-rational points (including the point at infinity) forms a subgroup of this group. If the curve is denoted by E, then this subgroup is often written as E(K). The above group can be described algebraically as well as geometrically. Given the curve y2 = x3 px q over the field K (whose characteristic we assume to be neither 2 nor 3), and points P = (xP, yP) and Q = (xQ, yQ) on the curve, assume first that xP xQ. Let s be the slope of the line containing P and Q; i.e.,
Elliptic curve
If xP = xQ (third and fourth panes above), then there are two options: if yP = yQ, including the case where yP = yQ = 0, then the sum is defined as 0; thus, the inverse of each point on the curve is found by reflecting it across the x-axis. If yP = yQ 0 (second pane), then R = P + P = 2P = (xR, yR) is given by
Associativity
All of the group laws except associativity follow immediately from the geometrical definition of the group operation. This animation illustrates geometically a proof of the associativity law. Notice that the sum of the three values on any of the six lines is 0. The location of all nine points is determined by the elliptic curve together with the locations of 0,a,b and c. The central point of the nine lies on the line through a and b+c, and also on the line through a+b and c. It follows that the central point is equal to both -(a+(b+c)) and -((a+b)+c), and thus these values are equal. The elliptic curve and the point 0 are fixed in this animation while a, b and c move independently of each other.
Elliptic curve
is the its
derivative. It should be clear that this relation is in the form of an elliptic curve (over the complex numbers). The Weierstrass functions are doubly periodic; that is, they are periodic with respect to a lattice ; in essence, the Weierstrass functions are naturally defined on a torus T = C/. This torus may be embedded in the complex projective plane by means of the map This map is a group isomorphism, carrying the natural group structure of the torus into the projective plane. It is also an isomorphism An elliptic curve over the complex numbers is obtained as a quotient of the complex plane by a lattice , here spanned by two fundamental periods 1 and of Riemann surfaces, so topologically, a 2. The four-torsion is also shown, corresponding to the lattice 1/4 containing given elliptic curve looks like a torus. If the . lattice is related by multiplication by a non-zero complex number c to a lattice c , then the corresponding curves are isomorphic. Isomorphism classes of elliptic curves are specified by the j-invariant. The isomorphism classes can be understood in a simpler way as well. The constants g2 and g3, called the modular invariants, are uniquely determined by the lattice, that is, by the structure of the torus. However, the complex numbers form the splitting field for polynomials with real coefficients, and so the elliptic curve may be written as
and
Here, is sometimes called the modular lambda function. Note that the uniformization theorem implies that every compact Riemann surface of genus one can be represented as a torus.
Elliptic curve This also allows an easy understanding of the torsion points on an elliptic curve: if the lattice is spanned by the fundamental periods 1 and 2, then the n-torsion points are the (equivalence classes of) points of the form for a and b integers in the range from 0 to n1. Over the complex numbers, every elliptic curve has nine inflection points. Every line through two of these points also passes through a third inflection point; the nine points and 12 lines formed in this way form a realization of the Hesse configuration.
It has rank 18, found by Noam Elkies in 2006. Curves of rank at least 28 are known, but their rank is not exactly known. As for the groups constituting the torsion subgroup of E(Q), the following is known[4] the torsion subgroup of E(Q) is one of the 15 following groups (a theorem due to Barry Mazur): Z/NZ for N = 1, 2, , 10, or 12, or Z/2Z
Elliptic curve Z/2NZ with N = 1, 2, 3, 4. Examples for every case are known. Moreover, elliptic curves whose Mordell-Weil groups over Q have the same torsion groups belong to a parametrized family.[5]
with integral coefficients ai, reducing the coefficients modulo p defines an elliptic curve over the finite field Fp (except for a finite number of primes p, where the reduced curve has a singularity and thus fails to be elliptic, in which case E is said to be of bad reduction at p). The zeta function of an elliptic curve over a finite field Fp is, in some sense, a generating function assembling the information of the number of points of E with values in the finite field extensions of Fp, Fpn. It is given,[6]
The interior sum of the exponential resembles the development of the logarithm and, in fact, the so-defined zeta function is a rational function:
The HasseWeil zeta function of E over Q is then defined by collecting this information together, for all primes p. It is defined by
where (p) = 1 if E has good reduction at p and 0 otherwise (in which case ap is defined differently than above). This product converges for Re(s) > 3/2 only. Hasse's conjecture affirms that the L-function admits an analytic continuation to the whole complex plane and satisfies a functional equation relating, for any s, L(E, s) to L(E, 2s). In 1999 this was shown to be a consequence of the proof of the ShimuraTaniyamaWeil conjecture, which asserts that every elliptic curve over Q is a modular curve, which implies that its L-function is the L-function of a modular form whose analytic continuation is known. One can therefore speak about the values of L(E, s) at any complex number s. The Birch-Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture relates the arithmetic of the curve to the behavior of its L-function at s = 1. More precisely, it affirms that the order of the L-function at s = 1 equals the rank of E and predicts the leading term of the Laurent series of L(E, s) at that point in terms of several quantities attached to the elliptic curve. Much like the Riemann hypothesis, this conjecture has multiple consequences, including the following two: Let n be an odd square-free integer. Assuming the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, n is the area of a right triangle with rational side lengths (a congruent number) if and only if the number of triplets of integers (x, y, z) satisfying is twice the number of triples satisfying . This statement, due to Tunnell, is related to the fact that n is a congruent number if and only if the elliptic curve has a rational point of infinite order (thus, under the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, its L-function has a zero at 1). The interest in this statement is that the condition is easily verified.[7]
Elliptic curve In a different direction, certain analytic methods allow for an estimation of the order of zero in the center of the critical strip of families of L-functions. Admitting the BSD conjecture, these estimations correspond to information about the rank of families of elliptic curves in question. For example,:[8] suppose the generalized Riemann hypothesis and the BSD conjecture, the average rank of curves given by is smaller than 2.
the expression
defines a parabolic modular newform of weight 2 and level N. For prime numbers not dividing N, the coefficient a() of the form equals the number of solutions of the minimal equation of the curve modulo . For example,[9] to the elliptic curve form For prime numbers distinct of 37, one can verify the property about the coefficients. Thus, for = 3, the solutions of the equation modulo 3 are (0, 0), (0, 1), (2, 0), (1, 0), (1, 1), (2, 1), as and a(3) = 3 6 = 3. The conjecture, going back to the fifties, has been completely shown in 1999 using ideas of Andrew Wiles, who already proved it in 1994 for a large family of elliptic curves.[10] There are several formulations of the conjecture. Showing that they are equivalent is difficult and was a main topic of number theory in the second half of the 20th century. The modularity of an elliptic curve E of conductor N can be expressed also by saying that there is a non-constant rational map defined over Q, from the modular curve X0(N) to E. In particular, the points of E can be parametrized by modular functions. For example, a modular parametrization of the curve is given by[11] with discriminant (and conductor) 37, is associated the
where, as above, q = exp(2iz). The functions x(z) and y(z) are modular of weight 0 and level 37; in other words they are meromorphic, defined on the upper half-plane Im(z) > 0 and satisfy
and likewise for y(z) for all integers a, b, c, d with ad bc = 1 and 37|c. Another formulation depends on the comparison of Galois representations attached on the one hand to elliptic curves, and on the other hand to modular forms. The latter formulation has been used in the proof the conjecture. Dealing with the level of the forms (and the connection to the conductor of the curve) is particularly delicate. The most spectacular application of the conjecture is the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem (FLT). Suppose that for a prime p > 5, the Fermat equation
has a solution with non-zero integers, hence a counter-example to FLT. Then the elliptic curve
Elliptic curve
of discriminant
cannot be modular. Thus, the proof of the TaniyamaShimuraWeil conjecture for this family of elliptic curves (called HellegouarchFrey curves) implies the FLT. The proof of the link between these two statements, based on an idea of Gerhard Frey (1985), is difficult and technical. It was established by Kenneth Ribet in 1987.[12]
Integral points
This section is concerned with points P = (x, y) of E such that x is an integer.[13] The following theorem is due to C. L. Siegel: the set of points P = (x, y) of E(Q) such that x is integral is finite. This theorem can be generalized to points whose x coordinate has a denominator divisible only by a fixed finite set of prime numbers. The theorem can be formulated effectively. For example,[14] if the Weierstrass equation of E has integer coefficients bounded by a constant H, the coordinates (x, y) of a point of E with both x and y integer satisfy:
For example, the equation y2 = x3 + 17 has eight integral solutions with y > 0 :[15] (x,y) = (1,4), (2,3), (2,5), (4,9), (8,23), (43,282), (52,375), (5234,378661). As another example, Ljunggren's equation, a curve whose Weierstrass form is y2 = x3 2x, has only four solutions with y 0 :[16] (x,y) = (0,0), (1,1), (2, 2), (338,6214).
As for the integral points, Siegel's theorem generalizes to the following: let E be an elliptic curve defined over a number field K, x and y the Weierstrass coordinates. Then the points of E(K) whose x-coordinate is in the ring of integers OK is finite. The properties of the HasseWeil zeta function and the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture can also be extended to this more general situation.
Elliptic curve
for arbitrary constants b2, b4, b6 such that the polynomial on the right-hand side has distinct roots (the notation is chosen for historical reasons). In characteristic 2, even this much is not possible, and the most general equation is
provided that the variety it defines is non-singular. If characteristic were not an obstruction, each equation would reduce to the previous ones by a suitable change of variables. One typically takes the curve to be the set of all points (x,y) which satisfy the above equation and such that both x and y are elements of the algebraic closure of K. Points of the curve whose coordinates both belong to K are called K-rational points.
Isogeny
Let E and D be elliptic curves over a field k. An isogeny between E and D is a finite morphism f : E D of varieties that preserves basepoints (in other words, maps the given point on E to that on D). The two curves are called isogenous if there is an isogeny between them. This is an equivalence relation, symmetry being due to the existence of the dual isogeny. Every isogeny is an algebraic homomorphism and thus induces homomorphisms of the groups of the elliptic curves for k-valued points.
In other words, the number of points of the curve grows roughly as the number of elements in the field. This fact can be understood and proven with the help of some general theory; see local zeta function, tale cohomology.
Elliptic curve
10 The set of points E(Fq) is a finite abelian group. It is always cyclic or the product of two cyclic groups. For example,[18] the curve defined by
over F71 has 72 points (71 affine points including (0,0) and one point at infinity) over this field, whose group structure is given by Z/2Z Z/36Z. The number of points on a specific curve can be computed with Schoof's algorithm. Studying the curve over the field extensions of Fq is facilitated by the introduction of the local zeta function of E over Fq, defined by a generating series (also see above)
where the field Kn is the (unique) extension of K = Fq of degree n (that is, Fqn). The zeta function is a rational function in T. There is an integer a such that
Moreover,
Elliptic curve
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The SatoTate conjecture is a statement about how the error term in Hasse's theorem varies with the different primes q, if you take an elliptic curve E over Q and reduce it modulo q. It was proven (for almost all such curves) in 2006 due to the results of Taylor, Harris and [20] Shepherd-Barron, and says that the error terms are equidistributed. Elliptic curves over finite fields are notably applied in cryptography and for the factorization of large integers. These algorithms often make use of the Set of affine points of elliptic curve y2 = x3 x over finite field F71. group structure on the points of E. Algorithms that are applicable to general groups, for example the group of invertible elements in finite fields, F*q, can thus be applied to the group of points on an elliptic curve. For example, the discrete logarithm is such an algorithm. The interest in this is that choosing an elliptic curve allows for more flexibility than choosing q (and thus the group of units in Fq). Also, the group structure of elliptic curves is generally more complicated.
Elliptic curve
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Notes
[3] See also J. W. S. Cassels, Mordell's Finite Basis Theorem Revisited, Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 100, 341 and the comment of A. Weil on the genesis of his work: A. Weil, Collected Papers, vol. 1, 520521. [6] The definition is formal, the exponential of this power series without constant term denotes the usual development. [8] D. R. Heath-Brown, The average analytic rank of elliptic curves, Duke Mathematical Journal 1223, 591623 (2004). [9] For the calculations, see for example D. Zagier, Modular points, modular curves, modular surfaces and modular forms , Lecture Notes in Mathematics 1111, Springer, 1985, 225248. [10] A synthetic presentation (in French) of the main ideas can be found in this (http:/ / archive. numdam. org/ ARCHIVE/ SB/ SB_1994-1995__37_/ SB_1994-1995__37__319_0/ SB_1994-1995__37__319_0. pdf) Bourbaki article of Jean-Pierre Serre. For more details see [11] D. Zagier, Modular points, modular curves, modular surfaces and modular forms , Lecture Notes in Mathematics 1111, Springer, 1985, 225248. [12] See the survey of K. Ribet From the TaniyamaShimura conjecture to Fermat's Last Theorem, Annales de la Facult des sciences de Toulouse 11 (1990), 116139. [14] , due to Baker. [15] T. Nagell, L'analyse indtermine de degr suprieur, Mmorial des sciences mathmatiques 39, Paris, Gauthier-Villars, 1929, pp. 5659. [16] . [17] L. Merel, Bornes pour la torsion des courbes elliptiques sur les corps de nombres , Inventiones Mathematicae 124 (1996), No. 13, 437449. [18] See [20] M. Harris, N. Shepherd-Barron, R. Taylor. A family of CalabiYau varieties and potential automorphy (http:/ / www. math. harvard. edu/ ~rtaylor/ cyfin. pdf)
References
Serge Lang, in the introduction to the book cited below, stated that "It is possible to write endlessly on elliptic curves. (This is not a threat.)" The following short list is thus at best a guide to the vast expository literature available on the theoretical, algorithmic, and cryptographic aspects of elliptic curves. I. Blake; G. Seroussi, N. Smart (2000). Elliptic Curves in Cryptography. LMS Lecture Notes. Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-65374-6. Richard Crandall; Carl Pomerance (2001). "Chapter 7: Elliptic Curve Arithmetic". Prime Numbers: A Computational Perspective (1st ed.). Springer-Verlag. pp.285352. ISBN0-387-94777-9. Cremona, John (1997). Algorithms for Modular Elliptic Curves (http://www.warwick.ac.uk/staff/J.E. Cremona//book/fulltext/index.html) (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-59820-6. Darrel Hankerson, Alfred Menezes and Scott Vanstone (2004). Guide to Elliptic Curve Cryptography (http:// www.cacr.math.uwaterloo.ca/ecc/). Springer. ISBN0-387-95273-X. Hardy, G.H.; Wright, E.M. (2008) [1938], An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers, Revised by D.R. Heath-Brown and J.H. Silverman. Foreword by Andrew Wiles. (6th ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0-19-921986-5, Zbl 1159.11001 (http://www.zentralblatt-math.org/zmath/en/search/ ?format=complete&q=an:1159.11001) Chapter XXV Hellegouarch, Yves (2001). Invitation aux mathmatiques de Fermat-Wiles. Paris: Dunod. ISBN978-2-10-005508-1 Husemller, Dale (2004). Elliptic Curves. Graduate Texts in Mathematics 111 (2nd ed.). Springer. ISBN0-387-95490-2. Kenneth Ireland; Michael I. Rosen (1998). "Chapters 18 and 19". A Classical Introduction to Modern Number Theory. Graduate Texts in Mathematics 84 (2nd revised ed.). Springer. ISBN0-387-97329-X. Anthony Knapp (1992). Elliptic Curves. Math Notes 40. Princeton University Press. Koblitz, Neal (1993). Introduction to Elliptic Curves and Modular Forms. Graduate Texts in Mathematics 97 (2nd ed.). Springer-Verlag. ISBN0-387-97966-2 Koblitz, Neal (1994). "Chapter 6". A Course in Number Theory and Cryptography. Graduate Texts in Mathematics 114 (2nd ed.). Springer-Verlag. ISBN0-387-94293-9
Elliptic curve Serge Lang (1978). Elliptic curves: Diophantine analysis. Grundlehren der mathematischen Wissenschaften 231. Springer-Verlag. ISBN3-540-08489-4. Henry McKean; Victor Moll (1999). Elliptic curves: function theory, geometry and arithmetic. Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-65817-9. Ivan Niven; Herbert S. Zuckerman, Hugh Montgomery (1991). "Section 5.7". An introduction to the theory of numbers (5th ed.). John Wiley. ISBN0-471-54600-3. Silverman, Joseph H. (1986). The Arithmetic of Elliptic Curves. Graduate Texts in Mathematics 106. Springer-Verlag. ISBN0-387-96203-4 Joseph H. Silverman (1994). Advanced Topics in the Arithmetic of Elliptic Curves. Graduate Texts in Mathematics 151. Springer-Verlag. ISBN0-387-94328-5. Joseph H. Silverman; John Tate (1992). Rational Points on Elliptic Curves. Springer-Verlag. ISBN0-387-97825-9. John Tate (1974). "The arithmetic of elliptic curves". Inventiones Mathematicae 23 (34): 179206. doi: 10.1007/BF01389745 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01389745). Lawrence Washington (2003). Elliptic Curves: Number Theory and Cryptography. Chapman & Hall/CRC. ISBN1-58488-365-0.
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External links
Hazewinkel, Michiel, ed. (2001), "Elliptic curve" (http://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/index.php?title=p/ e035450), Encyclopedia of Mathematics, Springer, ISBN978-1-55608-010-4 The Mathematical Atlas: 14H52 Elliptic Curves (http://www.math.niu.edu/~rusin/known-math/index/ 14H52.html) Weisstein, Eric W., " Elliptic Curves (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/EllipticCurve.html)" from MathWorld. The Arithmetic of Elliptic Curves (http://planetmath.org/encyclopedia/ArithmeticOfEllipticCurves.html) from PlanetMath Three Fermat Trails to Elliptic Curves (http://mathdl.maa.org/images/upload_library/22/Polya/07468342. di020792.02p05747.pdf), Ezra Brown, The College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 31 (2000), pp.162172, winner of the MAA writing prize the George Plya Award. Matlab code for implicit function plotting (http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/loadFile. do?objectId=300&objectType=File) Can be used to plot elliptic curves. Interactive introduction to elliptic curves and elliptic curve cryptography with SAGE (http://sagenb.org/home/ pub/1126/) Geometric Elliptic Curve Model(Java-Applet drawing curves) (http://www.certicom.com/ecc_tutorial/ ecc_javaCurve.html) Interactive elliptic curve over R (http://danher6.100webspace.net/ecc#ER_interactivo) and over Zp (http:// danher6.100webspace.net/ecc#EFp_interactivo) - Web application that requires HTML5 capable browser. This article incorporates material from Isogeny on PlanetMath, which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
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License
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