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248 12. Endomorphisms of Elliptic Curves
we can decompose µ = b 1 λ 1 +· · ·+b m λ m .Now m a j λ j = m b j λ j , which
j=1 j=1
implies that the prime divides all a j which is a contradiction. This proves that T
is injective.
(T (E), T (E )) is of finite rank, in fact, of rank at most 4. By the
Now Hom Z
0
injectivity of T on M ⊗ Z , we see that Hom (E, E ) has dimension at most four
and finally that Hom(E, E ) is finitely generated. This proves the theorem.
Q , and then the theorem has the following
We can define V (λ) = T (λ) ⊗ Z
immediate corollary.
(6.2) Corollary. For a prime unequal to the ground field characteristic the natural
map
V :Hom(E, E ) ⊗ Q → Hom Q (V (E), V (E ))
is injective.
For elliptic curves E and E defined over k the Galois group Gal(k s /k) acts
on Hom(E, E ) on the right by the formula λ σ = σ −1 λσ. The fixed subgroup
Gal(k s /k)
Hom(E, E ) = Hom k (E, E ) is the subgroup of homomorphisms defined
over k.For λ in Hom(E, E ) and x in V (E) we have the relation
σ σ σ
(λx) = λ x
σ
for the right action x equal to σ −1 x from the left action.
(6.3) Remark. The monomorphism of (6.1) and (6.2) restrict to monomorphisms
Hom k (E, E ) ⊗ Z → Hom Gal(k s /k) (T (E), T (E )),
Hom k (E, E ) ⊗ Q → Hom Gal(k s /k) (V (E), V (E )).
Hence homomorphisms and isogenies over k are distinguished by their action on
Tate modules viewed as Galois modules. In the next chapter we will see that there
are cases where these monomorphisms are isomorphisms.
(6.4) Remark. The cokernel of the monomorphism T is torsion free. This follows
since every k-homomorphism f : E → E equal to zero on the -division points is
of the form g for some k-homomorphism g : E → E .
§7. Expansions Near the Origin and the Formal Group
The formal group of an elliptic curve is used in the in the next two chapters, and
appendix III. We give now a brief introduction. In the equation for an elliptic curve E
in normal form we introduce new variables t =−x/y and s =−1/y. The equation
in the affine (t, s)-plane becomes
2
3
2
2
3
s = t + a 1 ts + a 2 t s + a 3 s + a 4 ts + a 6 s ,