Previous issue ·  Next issue ·  Recently posted articles ·  Most recent issue · All issues   
Home Overview Authors Editorial Contact Subscribe

Journal of the Ramanujan Mathematical Society

Volume 32, Issue 3, September 2017  pp. 231–257.

A positive proportion of cubic curves over Q admit linear determinantal representations

Authors:  Yasuhiro Ishitsuka
Author institution:Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan

Summary:  Can a smooth plane cubic be defined by the determinant of a square matrix with entries in linear forms in three variables? If we can, we say that it admits a linear determinantal representation. In this paper, we investigate linear determinantal representations of smooth plane cubics over various fields, and prove that any smooth plane cubic over a large field (or an ample field) admits a linear determinantal representation. Since local fields are large, any smooth plane cubic over a local field always admits a linear determinantal representation. As an application, we prove that a positive proportion of smooth plane cubics over Q, ordered by height, admit linear determinantal representations. We also prove that, if the conjecture of Bhargava-Kane-Lenstra-Poonen-Rains on the distribution of Selmer groups is true, a positive proportion of smooth plane cubics over Q fail the local-global principle for the existence of linear determinantal representations.


Contents   Full-Text PDF