The average size of the 2-Selmer group of Jacobians of hyperelliptic curves having a rational Weierstrass point
arXiv:1208.1007
Abstract
We prove that when all hyperelliptic curves of genus having a rational Weierstrass point are ordered by height, the average size of the 2-Selmer group of their Jacobians is equal to 3. It follows that (the limsup of) the average rank of the Mordell-Weil group of their Jacobians is at most 3/2. The method of Chabauty can then be used to obtain an effective bound on the number of rational points on most of these hyperelliptic curves; for example, we show that a majority of hyperelliptic curves of genus with a rational Weierstrass point have fewer than 20 rational points.
53 pages