July 14, 2022
Determining the rank of an elliptic curve E/Q is a hard problem, and in some applications (e.g. when searching for curves of high rank) one has to rely on heuristics aimed at estimating the analytic rank (which is equal to the rank under the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture). In this paper, we develop rank classification heuristics modeled by deep convolutional neural networks (CNN). Similarly to widely used Mestre-Nagao sums, it takes as an input the conductor of E and a sequence of normalized a_p-s (where a_p=p+1-#E(F_p) if p is a prime of good reduction) in some range (p<10^k for k=3,4,5), and tries to predict rank (or detect curves of ``high'' rank). The model has been trained and tested on two datasets: the LMFDB and a custom dataset consisting of elliptic curves with trivial torsion, conductor up to 10^30, and rank up to 10. For comparison, eight simple neural network models of Mestre-Nagao sums have also been developed. Experiments showed that CNN performed better than Mestre-Nagao sums on the LMFDB dataset (interestingly neural network that took as an input all Mestre-Nagao sums performed much better than each sum individually), while they were roughly equal on custom made dataset.
Similar papers 1
November 7, 2016
In this article, we propose a new probabilistic model for the distribution of ranks of elliptic curves in families of fixed Selmer rank, and compare the predictions with previous results, and with the databases of curves over the rationals that we have at our disposal. In addition, we document a phenomenon we refer to as Selmer bias that seems to play an important role in the data and in our models.
November 28, 2017
This is an introduction to a probabilistic model for the arithmetic of elliptic curves, a model developed in a series of articles of the author with Bhargava, Kane, Lenstra, Park, Rains, Voight, and Wood. We discuss the theoretical evidence for the model, and we make predictions about elliptic curves based on corresponding theorems proved about the model. In particular, the model suggests that all but finitely many elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Q}$ have rank $\le 21$, which w...
March 26, 2024
This paper investigates the detection of the rank of elliptic curves with ranks 0 and 1, employing a heuristic known as the Mestre-Nagao sum \[ S(B) = \frac{1}{\log{B}} \sum_{\substack{p<B \\ \textrm{good reduction}}} \frac{a_p(E)\log{p}}{p}, \] where $a_p(E)$ is defined as $p + 1 - \#E(\mathbb{F}_p)$ for an elliptic curve $E/\mathbb{Q}$ with good reduction at prime $p$. This approach is inspired by the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture. Our observations reveal an osci...
November 4, 2019
Empirical analysis is often the first step towards the birth of a conjecture. This is the case of the Birch-Swinnerton-Dyer (BSD) Conjecture describing the rational points on an elliptic curve, one of the most celebrated unsolved problems in mathematics. Here we extend the original empirical approach, to the analysis of the Cremona database of quantities relevant to BSD, inspecting more than 2.5 million elliptic curves by means of the latest techniques in data science, machin...
September 24, 2008
The paper proves that the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture is false.
December 7, 2020
We show that standard machine-learning algorithms may be trained to predict certain invariants of low genus arithmetic curves. Using datasets of size around one hundred thousand, we demonstrate the utility of machine-learning in classification problems pertaining to the BSD invariants of an elliptic curve (including its rank and torsion subgroup), and the analogous invariants of a genus 2 curve. Our results show that a trained machine can efficiently classify curves according...
November 4, 2016
In recent years, the question of whether the ranks of elliptic curves defined over $\mathbb{Q}$ are unbounded has garnered much attention. One can create refined versions of this question by restricting one's attention to elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Q}$ with a certain algebraic structure, e.g., with a rational point of a given order. In an attempt to gather data about such questions, we look for examples of elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Q}$ with an $n$-isogeny and rank as l...
September 18, 2020
Based on an equation for the rank of an elliptic surface over $\mathbb{Q}$ which appears in the work of Nagao, Rosen, and Silverman, we conjecture that 100% of elliptic surfaces have rank $0$ when ordered by the size of the coefficients of their Weierstrass equations, and present a probabilistic heuristic to justify this conjecture. We then discuss how it would follow from either understanding of certain $L$-functions, or from understanding of the local behaviour of the surfa...
April 21, 2022
We investigate the average value of the $p$th Dirichlet coefficients of elliptic curves for a prime p in a fixed conductor range with given rank. Plotting this average yields a striking oscillating pattern, the details of which vary with the rank. Based on this observation, we perform various data-scientific experiments with the goal of classifying elliptic curves according to their ranks.
February 5, 2016
Most systematic tables of data associated to ranks of elliptic curves order the curves by conductor. Recent developments, led by work of Bhargava-Shankar studying the average sizes of $n$-Selmer groups, have given new upper bounds on the average algebraic rank in families of elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Q}$ ordered by height. We describe databases of elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Q}$ ordered by height in which we compute ranks and $2$-Selmer group sizes, the distributions of...