HOW TO DO A p-DESCENT ON AN ELLIPTIC CURVE

In this paper, we describe an algorithm that reduces the computation of the (full) p-Selmer group of an elliptic curve E over a number field to standard number field computations such as determining the (p-torsion of) the S-class group and a basis of the S-units modulo pth powers for a suitable set S of primes. In particular, we give a result reducing this set S of ‘bad primes’ to a very small set, which in many cases only contains the primes above p. As of today, this provides a feasible algorithm for performing a full 3-descent on an elliptic curve over Q, but the range of our algorithm will certainly be enlarged by future improvements in computational algebraic number theory. When the Galois module structure of E[p] is favorable, simplifications are possible and p-descents for larger p are accessible even today. To demonstrate how the method works, several worked examples are included.