Weil–Châtelet group of a real elliptic curve is isomorphic to $\Bbb Z/2\Bbb Z$ when $\Delta>0$

166 Views Asked by At

This is a question from Silverman's The arithmetic of elliptic curves, exercise 10.7.

Prove $WC(E/ \Bbb R)$ is isomorphic to $\Bbb Z/2\Bbb Z$ when discriminant $Δ>0$ and $0$ when $Δ<0$.

From Silverman's Theorem $3.6$, $WC(E/K)$ is isomorphic to $H^1(G,E)$, where $G$ is absolute Galois group of $K$.

So in this case, I only need to calculate $H^1(\Bbb Z/2\Bbb Z ,E)$.

I wonder why sign of determinant have to do with this question. Thank you for your help.