Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2016 / iii / Paper 125 / 1 / i / Solution

Put $O=0_E$. Choose rational projective coordinates in which $O=(0:1:0)$ and its tangent is $Z=0$. Because $O$ is an inflection point of a plane cubic, that tangent intersects the cubic in the divisor $3O$. Consequently its cubic equation has the formHere $a\ne 0$, since the restriction to $Z=0$ is a nonzero multiple of $X^3$, and $b\ne 0$, since smoothness at $O$ requires a nonzero $Z$-derivative there. Completing the square in $Y$, by the rational linear change $Y^{\prime }=Y+(cX+eZ)/(2b)$, gives on $Z=1$Set $x^{\prime }=c_{0}x$ and $y^{\prime \prime }=c_0{y}^{\prime }$. ThenThese are invertible rational projective coordinate changes, and $O$ remains the unique point at infinity. Smoothness ensures that the resulting monic cubic has no repeated root. Thus this is a Weierstrass equation of an elliptic curve, without requiring any extraction of a square or cube root in $\mathbb{Q}$.

On this model write $-(x,y)=(x,-y)$ and $-O=O$. To add $P,Q$, take their joining line, or the tangent if $P=Q$, and let $R$ be the third intersection counted with multiplicity. DefineFor a vertical line its third intersection is $O$, so $P+(-P)=O$. The line through $O$ and an affine point is vertical, giving $P+O=P$. The tangent at $O$ has triple contact, giving $O+O=O$. This is the chord-and-tangent group law.

If $P,Q$ are rational, their joining line or tangent is rational. Its residual intersection point is rational: substituting the line in the cubic leaves a cubic whose other two roots, counted with multiplicity, are rational. Thus addition preserves $E(\mathbb{Q})$. The construction is symmetric in $P,Q$, so it is commutative.

For associativity, use divisor classes. A smooth plane cubic has geometric genus $1$, by the genus-degree formula. The Riemann-Roch theorem says that a divisor of degree $1$ on a genus-one curve has a one-dimensional space of sections. Therefore every degree-zero divisor class is uniquely represented by $P-O$: add $O$, take its unique effective degree-one representative, and then subtract $O$. Uniqueness also follows because a nonconstant function with its only pole a simple pole at $Q$ would contradict $\ell (Q)=1$.

Every line section is linearly equivalent to the tangent section $3O$. Thus, whenever $P,Q,R$ are collinear, including tangencies,A vertical section gives $[(-R)-O]=-[R-O]$. Hence the chord-and-tangent group law becomes ordinary addition in the degree-zero Picard group under the injective correspondence $P\mapsto [P-O]$. Associativity follows from associativity in that abelian group. Together with closure, identity and inverses already checked, this proves that $E(\mathbb{Q})$ is an abelian group.