Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2008 / iii / Paper 28 / 1

The Hasse theorem for elliptic curves statesWe prove it by the positive degree of an isogeny. Let $\pi$ be the $q$-power Frobenius isogeny, of degree $q$. Its fixed points are precisely $E({\mathbb{F}}_q)$, so they form the kernel of $1-\pi$. Since the differential of $\pi$ is zero, the differential of $1-\pi$ is the identity; thus $1-\pi$ is a separable isogeny. Its degree is the number of its geometric kernel points. ThereforeWe use the standard degree parallelogram law, together with $\mathrm{deg}[m]=m^2$: degree, extended by zero at the zero endomorphism, is a positive quadratic form on the endomorphism ring of an elliptic curve. Put $t=1+q-N$, the Trace of Frobenius. Polarizing the degree form gives, for every pair of integers $m,n$,Indeed, the values on $1$ and $\pi$ are $1$ and $q$, and the cross coefficient is fixed by $\mathrm{deg}(1-\pi )=1+q-t$. These are standard degree facts about isogenies of elliptic curves, which suffice without an assumption about characteristic or ordinariness.

For $n\ne 0$, division by $n^2$ shows $x^2-tx+q\ge 0$ at every rational $x=m/n$. Density of the rational numbers and continuity of this polynomial make it nonnegative on the real line. Evaluating at its minimum $x=t/2$ gives $q-t^2/4\ge 0$, whence $|t|\le 2\sqrt{q}$. Since $N=q+1-t$, this proves the estimate. This is the degree-form proof of the Hasse bound; it proves both sides simultaneously by positivity of one degree form.

Let $t=q+1-\#E({\mathbb{F}}_q)$. The stated characteristic equation for the Frobenius isogeny isTake $\alpha ,\beta$ to be the complex roots of $T^2-tT+q$. They satisfy $\alpha +\beta =t$ and $\alpha \beta =q$. By the Hasse bound, $t^2\le 4q$. If the inequality is strict, the roots are complex conjugates and have squared modulus $q$. In the equality case both roots are the same real number $\pm \sqrt{q}$. Thus in every caseTo obtain every extension-field count without assuming distinct roots, set $t_n=\mathrm{tr}({\pi }^n)$ and $t_0=2$. The dual isogeny satisfies $\hat{\pi }\pi =[q]$ and $\pi +\hat{\pi }=[t]$. Consequently the sums ${\pi }^n+{\hat{\pi }}^n=[t_n]$ satisfyAlternatively, apply additivity of the trace of an elliptic-curve endomorphism directly to the characteristic equation multiplied by ${\pi }^{n-2}$. The sequence ${\alpha }^n+{\beta }^n$ has the same recurrence and initial values, so $t_n={\alpha }^n+{\beta }^n$ by induction. This is the Frobenius trace recurrence, valid also at a repeated root.

The fixed points of ${\pi }^n$ are $E({\mathbb{F}}_{q^n})$, and $1-{\pi }^n$ is again separable. Since $\mathrm{deg}{\pi }^n=q^n$, the trace-degree identity givesFactoring and using $\beta =q/\alpha$ yieldsThis is the elliptic-curve point count over a finite field formula and the Riemann hypothesis for an elliptic curve over a finite field. In particular the powers on both factors are necessary; they are damaged in the converted TeX but present in the original PDF.