Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/iii/paper-22/3/ii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 22 3 ii Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
We use two precise facts about the formal group of an elliptic curve. At a prime of good reduction, its kernel of reduction of an elliptic curve is identified by the uniformizer with the group . For odd this group is torsion-free. To see the second fact, the integral invariant differential of a formal group law has the form , with . Integrating constructs the formal logarithmIt is a group homomorphism to the additive group. For and ,when is odd. Hence the series converges and , so it is injective. The target has no nonzero torsion. Therefore reduction is injective on the entire rational torsion subgroup at an odd prime of good reduction, including its -primary part.
For the present elliptic curve, , so every odd is a prime of good reduction. If , the Legendre symbol of is . The values and cancel in the sum of the Legendre symbols of , yieldingThe rational torsion subgroup injects into each of these groups, so it is finite and its order divides every such .
For any odd prime , the Dirichlet theorem on primes in arithmetic progressions supplies infinitely many with and . Discard the finitely many dividing . Since , it cannot divide . Similarly choose , again avoiding ; then , so .
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