On $2$-Selmer ranks of quadratic twists of elliptic curves

Abstract

We study the $2$-Selmer ranks of elliptic curves. We prove that for an arbitrary elliptic curve $E$ over an arbitrary number field $K$, if the set $A_E$ of 2-Selmer ranks of quadratic twists of $E$ contains an integer $c$, it contains all integers larger than $c$ and having the same parity as $c$. We also find sufficient conditions on $A_E$ such that $A_E$ is equal to $\Z_{\ge t_E}$ for some number $t_E$. When all points in $E[2]$ are rational, we give an upper bound for $t_E$.