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4 votes
1 answer
917 views

Does this conic have a rational point?

Consider the conic $$C = \{X^2+uY^2+vZ^2=0\}\subset\mathbb{P}^2_{\mathbb{Q}(u,v)}$$ over the function field $\mathbb{Q}(u,v)$. Does $C$ have a $\mathbb{Q}(u,v)$-rational point?
Puzzled's user avatar
  • 8,998
2 votes
1 answer
260 views

Rational points on a special class of surfaces

Consider a smooth surface of the following form $$ S = \{f(x,y,t) = p_0(t)x^2+p_1(t)xy+p_2(t)x+p_3(t)y^2+p_4(t)y+p_5(t) = 0\}\subset\mathbb{A}^3 $$ over $\mathbb{Q}$, and set $$ U_S = \{t' \in \mathbb{...
Puzzled's user avatar
  • 8,998
3 votes
1 answer
401 views

Rational points of bounded height on a variety

I would like to ask for some clarification on the following argument which I can not quite understand. There is a variety $X$ of dimension $n$ over a number field with a degree two map $f:X\...
Puzzled's user avatar
  • 8,998
3 votes
1 answer
719 views

Number of points of a quadric hypersurface over a finite field

Let $k = \mathbb{F}_q$ be a finite field with $q$ elements and $Q\subset\mathbb{P}^n_k$ a quadric hypersurface defined over $k$. By the Chevalley-Warning theorem if $n\geq 2$ then $Q$ has a point. Is ...
Puzzled's user avatar
  • 8,998
10 votes
0 answers
217 views

Are the nonnegative rationals diophantine with only two quantifiers?

Definition: A subset $D\subseteq \mathbb{Q}$ is diophantine if it is the projection of the zero set of a polynomial, i.e. there exists a polynomial $f\in\mathbb{Q}[X,Y_1,\dots,Y_n]$ for some $n$ such ...
Arno Fehm's user avatar
  • 2,051
20 votes
2 answers
2k views

Rational points on the "quintic circle" $x^5 + y^5 = 7$

I suspect that the curve $x^5 + y^5=7$ has no $\mathbb Q$ points, and a brief computer search verifies this hypothesis for denominators up to $10^4$. What techniques can be used to show that there are ...
pre-kidney's user avatar
  • 1,329
20 votes
3 answers
2k views

what is the maximum number of rational points of a curve of genus 2 over the rationals

Conjecturally, there exists an integer $n$ such that the number of rational points of a genus $2$ curve over $\mathbf{Q}$ is at most $n$. (This follows from the Bombieri-Lang conjecture.) We are ...
Dirk's user avatar
  • 209