The Square Sieve and the Lang--Trotter Conjecture

http://dx.doi.org/10.4153/CJM-2005-045-7
Canad. J. Math. 57(2005), 1155-1177

  Published:2005-12-01
 Printed: Dec 2005

Let $E$ be an elliptic curve defined over $\Q$ and without complex multiplication. Let $K$ be a fixed imaginary quadratic field. We find nontrivial upper bounds for the number of ordinary primes $p \leq x$ for which $\Q(\pi_p) = K$, where $\pi_p$ denotes the Frobenius endomorphism of $E$ at $p$. More precisely, under a generalized Riemann hypothesis we show that this number is $O_{E}(x^{\slfrac{17}{18}}\log x)$, and unconditionally we show that this number is $O_{E, K}\bigl(\frac{x(\log \log x)^{\slfrac{13}{12}}} {(\log x)^{\slfrac{25}{24}}}\bigr)$. We also prove that the number of imaginary quadratic fields $K$, with $-\disc K \leq x$ and of the form $K = \Q(\pi_p)$, is $\gg_E\log\log\log x$ for $x\geq x_0(E)$. These results represent progress towards a 1976 Lang--Trotter conjecture.