On the Hasse principle for divisibility in elliptic curves

Abstract

Let $p$ be a prime number and $n$ a positive integer. Let $E$ be an elliptic curve defined over a number field $k$. It is known that the local-global divisibility by $p$ holds in $E/k$, but for powers of $p^n$ counterexamples may appear. The validity or the failing of the Hasse principle depends on the elliptic curve $E$ and the field $k$ and, consequently, on the group $\mathrm{Gal}(k(E[p^n])/k)$. For which kind of these groups does the principle hold? For which of them can we find a counterexample? The answer to these questions was known for $n=1,2$, but for $n\ge 3$ they were still open. We show some conditions on the generators of $\mathrm{Gal}(k(E[p^n])/k)$ implying an affirmative answer to the local-global divisibility by $p^n$ in $E$ over $k$, for every $n\ge 2$. We also prove that these conditions are necessary by producing counterexamples in the case when they do not hold. These last results generalize to every power $p^n$, a result obtained by Ranieri for $n=2$.

19 pages