Uniform bound for the number of rational points on a pencil of curves

Abstract

Consider a one-parameter family of smooth, irreducible, projective curves of genus $g\ge 2$ defined over a number field. Each fiber contains at most finitely many rational points by the Mordell Conjecture, a theorem of Faltings. We show that the number of rational points is bounded only in terms of the family and the Mordell--Weil rank of the fiber's Jacobian. Our proof uses Vojta's approach to the Mordell Conjecture furnished with a height inequality due to the second- and third-named authors. In addition we obtain uniform bounds for the number of torsion in the Jacobian that lie each fiber of the family.

Minor revisions. Accepted to IMRN. Comments are welcome