Divisibility Biases in the Orders of Elliptic Curve Reductions

Abstract

Let $E$ be an elliptic curve over the rationals. In 2004, Cojocaru proved, using the Chebotarev density theorem, that the set of primes $p \leq x$ for which $m$ divides $\#E_p(\mathbb{F}_p)$ has a natural density. In 2009, Banks and Shparlinski proved an averaged version of this result over families of elliptic curves. In this article, we give a more explicit analysis of these densities. In particular, we show that, for Serre curves, the density of primes $p$ for which $m \mid \#E_p(\mathbb{F}_p)$ is approximately $1/\varphi(m)$, and is always greater than $1/m$ for every $m \geq 2$. Thus, the orders $\#E_p(\mathbb{F}_p)$ exhibit a bias toward divisibility by $m$. Finally, based on Jones' method, we prove that the average of the individual $m$-divisibility densities coincides with the average density proposed by Banks and Shparlinski.