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Some examples of 5 and 7 descent for elliptic curves over Q

We perform descent calculations for the families of elliptic curves over Q with a rational point of order n=5 or 7. These calculations give an estimate for the Mordell-Weil rank which we relate to the parity conjecture. We exhibit explicit elements of the Tate-Shafarevich group of order 5 and 7, and show that the 5-torsion of the Tate-Shafarevich group of an elliptic curve over Q may become arbitrarily large.


Some examples of 5 and 7 descent for elliptic curves over Q   (33 pages)     ps   ps.gz   pdf

This article has appeared in the Journal of the European Mathematical Society.