alphaFeedback

WorksMathematics

Classification of torsion of elliptic curves over sextic fields

AI contributions
  • GPT-6.1 Sol
  • Claude Opus 5.5
View details
Ancillary data
10 code links
View

Abstract

We determine all the groups that appear as the torsion group of an elliptic curve over a number field of degree 66. Apart from the 4444 groups that occur infinitely often, which were determined by Derickx and Sutherland, exactly four groups occur: Z/25Z\mathbb{Z}/25\mathbb{Z}, Z/37Z\mathbb{Z}/37\mathbb{Z}, Z/4Z×Z/12Z\mathbb{Z}/4\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/12\mathbb{Z} and Z/2Z×Z/24Z\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/24\mathbb{Z}. The first three were known to occur, while the group Z/2Z×Z/24Z\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/24\mathbb{Z} is new. We also show that, up to isomorphism, each of the groups Z/37Z\mathbb{Z}/37\mathbb{Z} and Z/2Z×Z/24Z\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/24\mathbb{Z} is the torsion group of a single elliptic curve over a single sextic field. The methods build on those developed by Derickx and Najman for quartic fields and by the author for quintic fields. Among the new ingredients are a formal immersion criterion at the prime 22 which uses the Cartier operator, and arguments with several diamond operators and with cuspidal divisor classes on quotients of modular curves.

Introduction

Let EE be an elliptic curve over a number field KK. By the Mordell–Weil theorem E(K)≃E(K)tors×ZrE(K) \simeq E(K)_{\mathrm{tors}} \times\mathbb{Z}^{r}, and by Merel’s theorem [34] the torsion subgroup E(K)torsE(K)_{\mathrm{tors}} is bounded in terms of d=[K:Q]d=[K:\mathbb{Q}] alone. Hence, for every d≥1d \ge1 the set

Φ(d):={E(K)tors:[K:Q]=d, E/K an elliptic curve}\Phi(d):=\{E(K)_{\mathrm{tors}}:[K:\mathbb{Q}]=d,\ E/K\text{ an elliptic curve}\}

is finite. The set Φ(1)\Phi(1) was determined by Mazur [Maz77], building on work of Kubert [29], and Φ(2)\Phi(2) by Kamienny [22], building on work of Kenku and Momose [28]. Derickx, Etropolski, van Hoeij, Morrow and Zureick-Brown [7] determined Φ(3)\Phi(3), using earlier work of Jeon, Kim and Schweizer [21], Parent [40] and Najman [35]. Derickx and Najman [11] determined Φ(4)\Phi(4), using earlier work of Jeon, Kim and Park [20] and Bruin and Najman [4]. Finally, Φ(5)\Phi(5) was determined by the author [36]. In this paper we determine Φ(6)\Phi(6).

Write Φ∞(d)⊆Φ(d)\Phi^{\infty}(d) \subseteq\Phi(d) for the subset of groups that occur as E(K)torsE(K)_{\mathrm{tors}} for infinitely many Q\mathbb{Q}-isomorphism classes of elliptic curves EE over number fields KK of degree dd. A group in Φ(d)∖Φ∞(d)\Phi(d) \setminus\Phi^{\infty}(d) will be called a sporadic torsion group in degree $d. This should not be confused with a sporadic point on a curve XX, which is a closed point of some degree ee such that XX has only finitely many closed points of degree at most ee. A list of known sporadic and isolated points on the curves X1(m,n)X_1(m,n) is maintained on the webpage [37]. We

Date: November 4, 2026.

2020 Mathematics Subject Classification. 11G05, 11G18, 14G05.

Key words and phrases. elliptic curves, torsion, sextic fields, modular curves, sporadic points.

The author was supported by the Croatian Science Foundation under the project no. IP-2022-10-5008, by the project “Implementation of cutting-edge research and its application as part of the Scientific Center of Excellence for Quantum and Complex Systems, and Representations of Lie Algebras”, PK.1.1.10.0004, co-financed by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund – Competitiveness and Cohesion Programme 2021–2027, and by the European Union – NextGenerationEU through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021–2026, via an institutional grant of the University of Zagreb Faculty of Science, IK IA 1.1.3, Impact4Math. have Φ∞(d)=Φ(d)\Phi^{\infty}(d)=\Phi(d) for d=1,2,4d=1,2,4. The only sporadic torsion group in degree 3 is Z/21Z\mathbb{Z}/21\mathbb{Z} [35, 7], and the sporadic torsion groups in degree 5 are Z/28Z\mathbb{Z}/28\mathbb{Z}, Z/30Z\mathbb{Z}/30\mathbb{Z} and Z/2Z×Z/18Z\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/18\mathbb{Z} [36]. The set Φ∞(6)\Phi^{\infty}(6) was determined by Derickx and Sutherland [14 Theorem 1.1], the cyclic part being due to Derickx and van Hoeij [15 Theorem 3]:

Φ∞(6)={Z/nZ:1≤n≤30, n≠23,25,29}∪{Z/2Z×Z/2nZ:1≤n≤10}∪{Z/3Z×Z/3nZ:1≤n≤4}∪{Z/4Z×Z/4Z,Z/4Z×Z/8Z,Z/6Z×Z/6Z}.(1)\Phi^{\infty}(6)=\{\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}:1\leq n\leq30,\ n\neq23,25,29\} \cup\{\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/2n\mathbb{Z}:1\leq n\leq10\}\cup\{\mathbb{Z}/3\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/3n\mathbb{Z}:1\leq n\leq4\} \cup\{\mathbb{Z}/4\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/4\mathbb{Z},\mathbb{Z}/4\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/8\mathbb{Z},\mathbb{Z}/6\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/6\mathbb{Z}\}. \tag*{(1)}

This set has 44 elements. Some sporadic torsion groups in degree 6 were already known. Van Hoeij [46] found an elliptic curve over a sextic field with a point of order 25 and one with a point of order 37, and Derickx, Kamienny, Stein and Stoll proved that every elliptic curve over a sextic field with a point of order 37 has jj-invariant −9317-9317 [10 Proposition 1.4]. González-Jiménez and Najman [18] found that the base change of the rational elliptic curve 162.d2162.\mathrm{d}2 to a sextic field has torsion group Z/4Z×Z/12Z\mathbb{Z}/4\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/12\mathbb{Z} (see also [8 Remark 1]).

Our main result is the following.

Theorem 1.1. Let KK be a number field of degree 6 and let EE be an elliptic curve over KK. Then E(K)torsE(K)_{\mathrm{tors}} is isomorphic to one of the following 48 groups:

Z/nZ,n=1,…,22,24,…,28,30,37,\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z},\qquad n=1,\ldots,22,24,\ldots,28,30,37,

Z/2Z×Z/2nZ,n=1,…,10,12,\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/2n\mathbb{Z},\qquad n=1,\ldots,10,12,

Z/3Z×Z/3nZ,n=1,…,4,\mathbb{Z}/3\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/3n\mathbb{Z},\qquad n=1,\ldots,4,

Z/4Z×Z/4nZ,n=1,2,3,\mathbb{Z}/4\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/4n\mathbb{Z},\qquad n=1,2,3,

Z/6Z×Z/6Z\mathbb{Z}/6\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/6\mathbb{Z}.

Equivalently, Φ(6)=Φ∞(6)∪{Z/25Z,Z/37Z,Z/4Z×Z/12Z,Z/2Z×Z/24Z}\Phi(6)=\Phi^{\infty}(6)\cup\{\mathbb{Z}/25\mathbb{Z},\mathbb{Z}/37\mathbb{Z},\mathbb{Z}/4\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/12\mathbb{Z},\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/24\mathbb{Z}\}.

The four sporadic groups are described by the following theorem, which is proved in § 10. For two of them we determine all the elliptic curves in question.

Theorem 1.2. Let KK be a number field of degree 6 and let E/KE/K be an elliptic curve.

  1. If E(K)E(K) has a point of order 37, then E(K)tors≃Z/37ZE(K)_{\mathrm{tors}}\simeq\mathbb{Z}/37\mathbb{Z}, and up to isomorphism of the pair (K,E)(K,E), the field KK is the cyclic sextic field K37K_{37} and EE is the curve E37E_{37} of Proposition 10.1, a quadratic twist of 1225.b21225.\mathrm{b}2.

  1. If Z/2Z×Z/24Z⊆E(K)\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/24\mathbb{Z}\subseteq E(K), then E(K)tors≃Z/2Z×Z/24ZE(K)_{\mathrm{tors}}\simeq\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/24\mathbb{Z}, and up to isomorphism of the pair (K,E)(K,E), the field KK is the field K2,24K_{2,24} of discriminant 231852 and EE is the curve E2,24E_{2,24} of Proposition 10.3.

  1. There exist elliptic curves over sextic fields with torsion groups Z/25Z\mathbb{Z}/25\mathbb{Z} and Z/4Z×Z/12Z\mathbb{Z}/4\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/12\mathbb{Z}, which are described in Proposition 10.2.

The curve in (2) is new. We do not determine all the elliptic curves over sextic fields with torsion Z/25Z\mathbb{Z}/25\mathbb{Z} or Z/4Z×Z/12Z\mathbb{Z}/4\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/12\mathbb{Z}. This is not needed for Theorem 1.1, since all the groups properly containing Z/25Z\mathbb{Z}/25\mathbb{Z} or Z/4Z×Z/12Z\mathbb{Z}/4\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}/12\mathbb{Z} can be ruled out directly.

Outline of the proof and of the paper

As in [11] and [36], the classification reduces to showing that certain modular curves X1(m,n)X_1(m,n) have no non-cuspidal points of degree 6, or more precisely no points defined over a sextic field. In § 3 we show that 66 groups have to be analyzed. Nine of them contain Z/37Z\mathbb{Z}/37\mathbb{Z} and are ruled out by the explicit description of the elliptic curves with a point of order 3737, and five more are reduced, by a 22-isogeny, to groups of the form Z/2Z×Z/2nZ\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z} \times\mathbb{Z}/2n\mathbb{Z}. The others are treated with the following methods.

The global method of [11 Proposition 4.3], in the form used in [36], eliminates eleven groups Z/nZ\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z} with large nn (§ 4). For six other large nn we use a variant of the diamond argument of [36 Proposition 7.2], in which a single operator ⟨a⟩−1\langle a\rangle- 1 is replaced by a more general element of the group ring of the diamond operators.

When the Jacobian has rank 00 we use the criterion of [11 Proposition 5.2], which shows that the elliptic curve must have good reduction at some prime above a suitable pp (§ 5). When p=2p = 2 this often requires a large gonality, and we replace this requirement by a condition on the dimensions of the Riemann–Roch spaces L(2C)L(2C) of the cuspidal divisors CC on XF2X_{\mathbb{F}_2}, which we check by computation. The cases in which the elliptic curve does have good reduction at some prime above pp are eliminated by the Hecke sieve of [11 Proposition 5.5], which we use both over Q\mathbb{Q} and over Q(ζm)\mathbb{Q}(\zeta_m) for m=3,4,6m = 3, 4, 6 (§ 6).

Several cases are settled by computations in the group generated by the cuspidal divisor classes over a finite field (§ 7). This determines all the sextic points on X1(2,24)X_1(2,24), which is how we find the elliptic curves with torsion Z/2Z×Z/24Z\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z} \times\mathbb{Z}/24\mathbb{Z} and rule out Z/48Z\mathbb{Z}/48\mathbb{Z}. The groups Z/36Z\mathbb{Z}/36\mathbb{Z}, Z/2Z×Z/26Z\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z} \times\mathbb{Z}/26\mathbb{Z}, Z/3Z×Z/18Z\mathbb{Z}/3\mathbb{Z} \times\mathbb{Z}/18\mathbb{Z}, Z/2Z×Z/30Z\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z} \times\mathbb{Z}/30\mathbb{Z} and Z/54Z\mathbb{Z}/54\mathbb{Z} are also treated in this way, the last two by pushing divisors forward to quotient curves. For Z/54Z\mathbb{Z}/54\mathbb{Z} this leaves only elliptic curves whose reductions modulo 55 have jj-invariant 22, and a 22-isogeny excludes them.

The groups Z/51Z\mathbb{Z}/51\mathbb{Z}, Z/63Z\mathbb{Z}/63\mathbb{Z} and Z/65Z\mathbb{Z}/65\mathbb{Z} (§ 8) required a new idea. For these nn, every elliptic curve with a point of order nn over a sextic field has bad reduction at all primes above 22, but [11 Proposition 5.2] does not apply: for n=51n = 51 our lower bound for the gonality of X1(51)X_1(51) is too weak, and for n=63n = 63 and 6565 there are newforms of level dividing nn with positive analytic rank, so we cannot use that J1(n)(Q)J_1(n)(\mathbb{Q}) is finite. We show that the cuspidal reduction cannot occur by a formal immersion argument at 22. The usual difficulty at p=2p = 2, namely that reduction is not injective on the 22-torsion of the Jacobian, is resolved by Lemma 8.1, which shows that T2−⟨2⟩T_2 - \langle2\rangle kills the 22-torsion in the kernel of reduction, and the formal immersion condition then becomes a condition on the Cartier operator on the holomorphic differentials of a quotient of X1(n)X_1(n) over F2\mathbb{F}_2, which can be checked by linear algebra over F2\mathbb{F}_2. For n=65n = 65 (and n=57n = 57) the Jacobian has positive rank, and we first show that the elliptic curve cannot have good reduction at a prime above 22, using the known quadratic and cubic points on X0(57)X_0(57) and X0(65)X_0(65) (Section 9). The group Z/57Z\mathbb{Z}/57\mathbb{Z} is then eliminated by a computation of the rational 22-torsion of J1(57)J_1(57).

§ 10 contains the four sporadic groups and the proof of Theorem 1.1, and § 11 describes the computations.

Data availability and reproducibility

All the code and all the logs of the computations described in this paper are available at

https://github.com/F-Najman/sextic_torsion

The README there lists, statement by statement, which script establishes each claim and which log it produced. In the digital form of this article, the words reporting a computation, such as “we compute”, are hyperlinks to the script that carries it out.

AI disclosure and comments

AI models were extensively used in the work leading to this paper. After completing [11] (with Derickx) and [36] and giving talks about this work, I was asked several times whether we could do such a classification for number fields of degree d>5d > 5. My answer was that I thought it was not possible as it would require explicit computations that did not seem feasible to me. To check whether this was correct, in mid-October 2026 I asked AI whether this was possible, and whether it could do it. To my surprise, it was able to complete the classifications of possible torsion groups of elliptic curves over number fields, not only in degree 6, but later also in degrees 7, 8, 9 and finally 10. After some initial hesitation about releasing primarily AI-generated mathematics, I decided that the results were simply too interesting and the mathematics too beautiful to just stay on my computer.

OpenAI’s GPT-6.1 Sol produced almost all of the mathematical content of the first version of the proof and carried out most of the computations. Anthropic’s Claude Opus 5.5 reviewed that version, independently recomputed the relevant computations and the explicit examples, wrote the draft of the present manuscript and organized the code repository. I carefully reviewed the paper line by line and rewrote most parts of it. I understand it completely, and take full responsibility for the content of the paper.

Future work

As noted in the AI disclosure above, I have obtained AI-generated proofs that appear to prove a complete classification of the possible torsion groups of elliptic curves over number fields of degrees 7, 8, 9 and 10. Once I have fully understood and verified the arguments in degrees 7–9, I plan to combine the results for degrees 6–9 into a single paper, which I currently expect to be around 120 pages long. Degree 10 will stay in a separate paper for mathematical reasons and because of its length.

Notation and auxiliary results

References

  1. [1][Abr96] Dan Abramovich, A linear lower bound on the gonality of modular curves, Internat. Math. Res. Notices (1996), no. 20, 1005–1011.
  2. [2][BCP97] Wieb Bosma, John Cannon, and Catherine Playoust, The Magma algebra system. I. The user language, J. Symbolic Comput. 24 (1997), no. 3-4, 235–265, Computational algebra and number theory (London, 1993).DOI
  3. [3][BGG23] Joshua Box, Steven Gajović, and Pip Goodman, Cubic and quartic points on modular curves using generalised symmetric Chabauty, Int. Math. Res. Not. IMRN (2023), no. 7, 5604–5659.
  4. [4][BN16] Peter Bruin and Filip Najman, A criterion to rule out torsion groups for elliptic curves over number fields, Res. Number Theory 2 (2016), Paper No. 3, 13 pp.DOI
  5. [6]Pete L. Clark, Tyler Genao, Paul Pollack, and Frederick Saia, The least degree of a CM point on a modular curve, J. Lond. Math. Soc. (2) 105 (2022), no. 2, 825–883.DOI
  6. [7]Maarten Derickx, Anastassia Etropolski, Mark van Hoeij, Jackson S. Morrow, and David Zureick-Brown, Sporadic cubic torsion, Algebra Number Theory 15 (2021), no. 7, 1837–1864.DOI
  7. [8]Harris B. Daniels and Enrique González-Jiménez, On the torsion of rational elliptic curves over sextic fields, Math. Comp. 89 (2020), no. 321, 411–435.DOI
  8. [9]Fred Diamond and John Im, Modular forms and modular curves, Seminar on Fermat’s Last Theorem (Toronto, ON, 1993–1994), CMS Conf. Proc. 17 (1995), 39–133.
  9. [10]Maarten Derickx, Sheldon Kamienny, William Stein, and Michael Stoll, Torsion points on elliptic curves over number fields of small degree, Algebra Number Theory 17 (2023), no. 2, 267–308.
  10. [11]Maarten Derickx and Filip Najman, Classification of torsion of elliptic curves over quartic fields, J. Reine Angew. Math. 829 (2025), 123–156.DOI
  11. [14]———, Torsion subgroups of elliptic curves over quintic and sextic number fields, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 145 (2017), no. 10, 4233–4245.DOI
  12. [15]Maarten Derickx and Mark van Hoeij, Gonality of the modular curve X₁(N), J. Algebra 417 (2014), 52–71.DOI
  13. [16]Gerd Faltings, Endlichkeitssätze für abelsche Varietäten über Zahlkörpern, Invent. Math. 73 (1983), no. 3, 349–366.
  14. [17]Gerhard Frey, Curves with infinitely many points of fixed degree, Israel J. Math. 85 (1994), no. 1-3, 79–83.DOI
  15. [18]Enrique González-Jiménez and Filip Najman, An algorithm for determining torsion growth of elliptic curves, Exp. Math. 32 (2023), no. 1, 70–81.
  16. [19]Robin Hartshorne, Algebraic geometry, Graduate Texts in Mathematics, vol. 52, Springer-Verlag, New York-Heidelberg, 1977.
  17. [20]Daeyeol Jeon, Chang Heon Kim, and Euisung Park, On the torsion of elliptic curves over quartic number fields, J. London Math. Soc. (2) 74 (2006), no. 1, 1–12.DOI
  18. [21]Daeyeol Jeon, Chang Heon Kim, and Andreas Schweizer, On the torsion of elliptic curves over cubic number fields, Acta Arith. 113 (2004), no. 3, 291–301.DOI
  19. [22]Sheldon Kamienny, Torsion points on elliptic curves and q-coefficients of modular forms, Invent. Math. 109 (1992), no. 2, 221–229.DOI
  20. [23]———, Torsion points on elliptic curves over fields of higher degree, Internat. Math. Res. Notices (1992), no. 6, 129–133.
  21. [24]Nicholas M. Katz, Galois properties of torsion points on abelian varieties, Invent. Math. 62 (1981), no. 3, 481–502.DOI
  22. [25]Kazuya Kato, p-adic Hodge theory and values of zeta functions of modular forms, Astérisque (2004), no. 295, ix, 117–290, Cohomologies p-adiques et applications arithmétiques. III.
  23. [26]M. A. Kenku, The modular curves X₀(65) and X₀(91) and rational isogeny, Math. Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 87 (1980), no. 1, 15–20.DOI
  24. [28]M. A. Kenku and Fumiyuki Momose, Torsion points on elliptic curves defined over quadratic fields, Nagoya Math. J. 109 (1988), 125–149.DOI
  25. [29]Daniel Sion Kubert, Universal bounds on the torsion of elliptic curves, Proc. London Math. Soc. (3) 33 (1976), no. 2, 193–237.
  26. [30]The L-functions and modular forms database, https://www.lmfdb.org, 2026, The LMFDB Collaboration; online, accessed September 2026.
  27. [31]Ju. I. Manin, Parabolic points and zeta functions of modular curves, Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR Ser. Mat. 36 (1972), 19–66.
  28. [33]mdmagma, https://github.com/koffie/mdmagma, M. Derickx, Magma package.
  29. [34]Loïc Merel, Bornes pour la torsion des courbes elliptiques sur les corps de nombres, Invent. Math. 124 (1996), no. 1-3, 437–449.DOI
  30. [35]Filip Najman, Torsion of rational elliptic curves over cubic fields and sporadic points on X₁(n), Math. Res. Lett. 23 (2016), no. 1, 245–272.
  31. [36]———, Classification of torsion of elliptic curves over quintic fields, Preprint, https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.12846, 2026.
  32. [37]———, Isolated and sporadic points on X₁(m,n), https://x1mn-sporadic.github.io, 2026.
  33. [38]Tadao Oda, The first de Rham cohomology group and Dieudonné modules, Ann. Sci. École Norm. Sup. (4) 2 (1969), 63–135.DOI
  34. [39]Pierre Parent, Bornes effectives pour la torsion des courbes elliptiques sur les corps de nombres, J. Reine Angew. Math. 506 (1999), 85–116.
  35. [40]———, Torsion des courbes elliptiques sur les corps cubiques, Ann. Inst. Fourier (Grenoble) 50 (2000), no. 3, 723–749.DOI
  36. [41]Joseph H. Silverman, The arithmetic of elliptic curves, second ed., Graduate Texts in Mathematics, vol. 106, Springer, Dordrecht, 2009.
  37. [42]Henning Stichtenoth, Algebraic function fields and codes, second ed., Graduate Texts in Mathematics, vol. 254, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2009.DOI
  38. [43]Andrew V. Sutherland, Magma intrinsics for subgroups of GL₂(Z/nZ) and modular curves, https://github.com/AndrewVSutherland/Magma, Magma package; point counting in gl2points.
  39. [44]———, Constructing elliptic curves over finite fields with prescribed torsion, Math. Comp. 81 (2012), no. 278, 1131–1147.DOI
  40. [45]———, Optimized equations for X₁(N), https://math.mit.edu/~drew/X1_altcurves.html, 2012.
  41. [46]Mark van Hoeij, Low degree places on the modular curve X₁(N), Preprint, https://arxiv.org/abs/1202.4355; data at https://www.math.fsu.edu/~hoeij/files/X1N/, 2014.

Paper details

vlnc:W_dzmd4r5j
v1 · latestHistory (1)

published · Fresh — added to the Hub within the last 30 days

added ·

Usage

views · 0

downloads · 0

A view counts once per browser per day, a download each time the PDF is requested.

CC BY 4.0

Original source

  • Mathematics

GPT-6.1 Sol, Claude Opus 5.5 · View statement →

Looking for related papers…
Contents