The density of rational points in curves and surfaces

Abstract

Let $X$ be an algebraic variety, defined over the rationals. This paper gives upper bounds for the number of rational points on $X$, with height at most $B$, for the case in which $X$ is a curve or a surface. In the latter case one excludes from the counting function those points that lie on lines in the surface. The bounds are uniform for all $X$ of a given degree. They are best possible in the case of curves. As an application it is shown that if $F$ is an irreducible binary form of degree 3 or more then almost all integers represented by $F$ have essentially one such representation.

46 pages, published version; appendix by J.-L. Colliot-Thélène