Rational points on the non-split Cartan modular curve of level 27 and quadratic Chabauty over number fields

TL;DR

This paper completes the classification of 3-adic Galois images for non-CM elliptic curves over Q by proving the non-occurrence of a specific subgroup, using quadratic Chabauty methods on modular curves over number fields.

Contribution

It introduces a quadratic Chabauty approach for modular curves over number fields with high Mordell--Weil rank, enabling the determination of rational points in complex cases.

Findings

Proves the non-existence of the normaliser of the non-split Cartan subgroup of level 27 as a 3-adic Galois image.

Develops a quadratic Chabauty method applicable over number fields with high Mordell--Weil rank.

Completes the classification of 3-adic Galois images for non-CM elliptic curves over Q.

Abstract

Thanks to work of Rouse, Sutherland, and Zureick-Brown, it is known exactly which subgroups of GL$_2(\mathbf{Z}_3)$ can occur as the image of the $3$-adic Galois representation attached to a non-CM elliptic curve over $\mathbf{Q}$, with a single exception: the normaliser of the non-split Cartan subgroup of level 27. In this paper, we complete the classification of 3-adic Galois images by showing that the normaliser of the non-split Cartan subgroup of level 27 cannot occur as a 3-adic Galois image of a non-CM elliptic curve. Our proof proceeds via computing the $\mathbf{Q}(\zeta_3)$-rational points on a certain smooth plane quartic curve $X'_H$ (arising as a quotient of the modular curve $X_{ns}^+(27)$) defined over $\mathbf{Q}(\zeta_3)$ whose Jacobian has Mordell--Weil rank 6. To this end, we describe how to carry out the quadratic Chabauty method for a modular curve $X$ defined over a number field $F$, which, when applicable, determines a finite subset of $X(F\otimes\mathbf{Q}_p)$ in certain situations of larger Mordell--Weil rank than previously considered. Together with an analysis of local heights above 3, we apply this quadratic Chabauty method to determine $X'_H(\mathbf{Q}(\zeta_3))$. This allows us to compute the set $X_{ns}^+(27)(\mathbf{Q})$, finishing the classification of 3-adic images of Galois.