At there is good reduction, and the surjectivity of good reduction over a local field gives an exact sequence
The quotient has order and is consequently a cyclic group. For every odd integer , multiplication by is an automorphism of : its formal group law has multiplication series with unit linear coefficient, whose inverse formal power series has integral coefficients and converges on . This is the prime-to-residue-characteristic multiplication on a formal group.
Thus the odd-primary torsion subgroup injects into the order-five quotient. It also realizes that quotient: choose a lift of any reduced point, so . There is a unique with . Then is killed by five and has the prescribed reduction. This proves the prime-to-p torsion lifts uniquely at good reduction directly here. Therefore, for an odd prime ,
The five-primary subgroup consists of the unique five-torsion lifts of the five reduced points. These lifts need not be rational over ; the preceding answer about rational torsion points of an elliptic curve does not contradict their existence over the p-adic field.
Assume good reduction, and write . The surjectivity of good reduction over a local field and the formal group law determine the torsion as follows. If , multiplication by is an automorphism of , because its multiplication series has an integral compositional inverse with unit linear coefficient. Therefore reduction gives an isomorphism
To construct the inverse, lift a reduced point to , solve uniquely in , and use . This proves the prime-to-p torsion lifts uniquely at good reduction, including uniqueness, rather than merely comparing orders.
For residue-characteristic torsion, use a deep logarithm subgroup of a formal group. Take for odd , or at two. The formal logarithm identifies with , so has no torsion. The finite quotient group
therefore receives the torsion subgroup injectively. There is a complete test for which cosets actually contain torsion. For a coset of order , choose a lift . Then . Its coset has a torsion representative exactly when
When this condition holds, let be the unique point with . Then is killed by and represents . Conversely, any torsion representative has order precisely , since an element killed in the quotient would belong to the torsion-free group . It must therefore arise from this construction. Changing by changes by , so the test is independent of the chosen lift. This proves the torsion test using a deep formal logarithm subgroup and gives the full torsion by a finite list of cosets and a logarithmic divisibility test.
For odd , one has , so all torsion points of an elliptic curve inject into . Nevertheless a reduced -primary point need not lift to a torsion point: if its order is , the test is . For , the subgroup is torsion-free but has order two. Thus can have a two-torsion point, and one must use of order rather than assert that all torsion injects under reduction. The prime-two torsion bound for good reduction follows: the reduction kernel contributes at most a subgroup of order two. These distinctions are essential to a correct determination of local torsion subgroups.
Only the prime two can ramify. More precisely, every field is unramified at every odd prime; actual ramification at two depends on and the chosen division point. Use , as printed in the original PDF.
Fix an odd prime and put . The elliptic-curve discriminant gives good reduction at , and is a unit in . The unramified division torsors at good primes imply that all division points of an elliptic curve above are defined over finite unramified extensions of . Here is a direct lifting proof, which does not require to have integral affine coordinates.
Properness gives a reduction . Choose a point with over the algebraic closure of the residue field, and a finite residue extension containing it. Pass to the corresponding finite unramified extension . The surjectivity of good reduction over a local field lifts to . Its error lies in the kernel of reduction of an elliptic curve. The prime-to-residue-characteristic multiplication on a formal group makes bijective on that kernel. Choose the unique kernel point with ; then satisfies and has reduction .
Every algebraic division point has some such reduction and is the unique lift in its division fibre: the difference of two lifts lies in the reduction kernel, which has no -torsion. Thus every chosen lies in an unramified local extension. For every prime of its possibly non-Galois coordinate field above , the ramification index is one. Globally,
One cannot universally assert that two actually ramifies: and give the field . It can ramify. For example, a half of is
The elliptic curve group law verifies this by doubling. Its coordinate field contains , which has ramification in the quadratic extension generated by the square root of two, so the only possible bad prime does occur for this choice.
Choose an integral Weierstrass equation of an elliptic curve with unit elliptic-curve discriminant. For , choose homogeneous coordinates in with at least one unit by multiplying all three coordinates by a common power of . Define
Two primitive integral representatives differ by a unit, so this is well-defined. Every point of the reduced cubic is a nonsingular point of an algebraic curve, and the identity reduces to . This definition includes points whose affine coordinates are nonintegral.
To prove the good-reduction map respects elliptic addition, use the smooth proper integral model. The elliptic curve group law is a morphism on this model, constructed by addition of degree-zero divisor classes; it is defined even where an affine chord formula has a vanishing denominator. Passing to the residue field commutes with this morphism. Hence
so reduction is a homomorphism of abelian groups.
For surjectivity, the simple-root Hensel lemma says that if , and , then there is a unique with and . The point at infinity lifts to . At an affine point of the reduced equation , being a nonsingular point of an algebraic curve means at least one partial derivative is nonzero. If , fix any integral lift of and apply the Hensel lemma to to lift . If , fix and lift instead. This proves the surjectivity of good reduction over a local field and gives
Reduce to . Because , the multiplication-by-n morphism on the reduced elliptic curve is a separable, surjective morphism of degree . Choose a point with . Its coordinates lie in some finite field .
Let be the finite unramified extension with residue field . The curve retains good reduction over . Its smooth integral model and the Hensel lemma give surjectivity of good reduction over a local field, so lift to some . This lift need not satisfy exactly, but its error
has zero reduction and belongs to , the kernel of reduction of an elliptic curve.
The parameter at infinity identifies with the maximal ideal equipped with the formal group of an elliptic curve. The integral power series for and its inverse from part (i) remain integral over . They converge on : terms of degree tend to zero in valuation because their coefficients are integral and the argument has positive valuation. Hence multiplication by is bijective on . Choose its unique solution to , and put . Then
The residue-field extension supplies a division point modulo , and the formal-group inverse corrects the error without introducing ramification. This is the local construction underlying the uniform unramified division field over a local field and unramified division torsors at good primes.
An elliptic curve has good reduction over if it admits an integral Weierstrass equation of an elliptic curve with unit elliptic-curve discriminant. Equivalently, the reduction of its Minimal Weierstrass equation is a nonsingular cubic over the residue field . Its smooth integral projective model is a group scheme with the point as identity.
Choose homogeneous coordinates in the valuation ring with at least one coordinate a unit, and reduce them modulo its maximal ideal . This defines . The chord-and-tangent group law extends over the smooth integral model, so reduction is a group homomorphism. For any point of , choose an affine projective chart containing it. Smoothness means some partial derivative of its equation is nonzero in . Lift the other coordinate arbitrarily and apply the Hensel lemma to the coordinate with unit derivative. This constructs a point of above the prescribed point, proving the surjectivity of good reduction over a local field.
The kernel of reduction of an elliptic curve consists precisely of points reducing to . The parameter at gives a bijection between this kernel and : the integral formal-coordinate series solve the equation uniquely near . Addition in these coordinates is the formal group of an elliptic curve, not ordinary addition in . Thus
Here the group operation on the last expression is its formal group law.
Let be the maximal unramified extension of , with residue field . First show that every geometric solution of lies in .
The multiplication-by-n morphism on the reduced elliptic curve is surjective over . Choose with , defined over some finite finite field extension . Let be the corresponding finite unramified extension. By the surjectivity of good reduction over a local field, lift to . Then . The multiplication isomorphism of a formal group law gives a unique with , so is an -division point of defined over .
Taking gives every element of over : reduction is injective on this torsion point of an elliptic curve group because is injective on the formal kernel, and each reduced -torsion point has the unique corrected lift just constructed. Every other division point differs from one lift by an element of . Hence the entire field is unramified, not merely a field containing one choice of .
To bound the composite uniformly in , put . This division field of an elliptic curve is unramified. The Galois group of is procyclic, generated topologically by its Frobenius element , and fixes every element of . If , then
Iteration gives . In particular . Thus every such , for every together, lies in the unique unramified extension of degree . If is the composite of all these fields, the uniform unramified division field over a local field gives
The prime-to- hypothesis is essential to the inverse-series argument; no assertion about arbitrary -division is being made.