Canonical-height proof of Mordell-Weil finite generation

ID: canonical-height-proof-of-mordell-weil-finite-generation

For an elliptic curve over a number field, its nonnegative canonical height of an elliptic curve has finite bounded subsets by the Northcott theorem and its bounded difference from half the naive logarithmic height. By the Weak Mordell-Weil theorem, choose representatives modulo and put . If , the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality for the height pairing gives . Iterating brings every point into the finite set of height at most . This set and the generate , proving the Mordell-Weil theorem without assuming finite generation when constructing the height.

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