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Let $A \to S$ be an abelian scheme over an irreducible curve $S$ over complex numbers of relative dimension $g \geq 1$. Let $s: S \to A$ be a non-constant section and denote by $X:=s(S)$. Is it true that $\mathbb{Z}\cdot X:= \bigcup_{n \in \mathbb{Z}} nX$ is Zariski dense in A?

I expect it is false in general but cannot find a counterexample. Thanks for any guidance.

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    $\begingroup$ I'm not quite sure what you mean by a non-constant section, unless maybe if we let $B$ be the $\mathbb C(S)/\mathbb C$ trace of $A$, you want $s$ to be non-zero as a map $S\to A/B$. In any case, if $s$ is a torsion section, then $\mathbb Z\cdot X$ will be a finite union of copies of $X$, so won't be Zariski dense. So you probably want to disallow that case. $\endgroup$ Commented May 25, 2023 at 0:39
  • $\begingroup$ Yes, thanks for your comment. I mean non-constant as you said. Can we prove that if $s$ is not torsion then $\mathbb{Z} s$ is Zariski dense? $\endgroup$
    – Desunkid
    Commented May 25, 2023 at 4:30

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How about if $A = E_1\times E_2$ with $E_i$ non isotrivial elliptic curves and $s: S \to P\times 0$. Then your $\mathbb Z\cdot X$ is contained in $E_1\times 0$ and so is not Zariski dense. In fact, this is the only thing that can happen.

Let $Z$ be the Zariski closure of $\mathbb Z\cdot X$ in $A$. Then $Z$ is closed under addition and inversion and therefore the connected component of $Z$ is a sub abelian variety. If $X$ is non-torsion, then this connected component will be of positive dimension. Conversely, if we had such a sub abelian variety, any section contained in this subvariety will give rise to a non Zariski dense $\mathbb Z\cdot X$.

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  • $\begingroup$ I see. Thanks for your nice answer. $\endgroup$
    – Desunkid
    Commented May 25, 2023 at 16:46

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