Quadratic twists of elliptic curves with 3-Selmer rank 1

Abstract

A weaker form of a 1979 conjecture of Goldfeld states that for every elliptic curve E/ℚ, a positive proportion of its quadratic twists E(d) have rank 1. Using tools from Galois cohomology, we give criteria on E and d which force a positive proportion of the quadratic twists of E to have 3-Selmer rank 1 and global root number -1. We then give four nonisomorphic infinite families of elliptic curves Em,n which satisfy these criteria. Conditional on the rank part of the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, this verifies the aforementioned conjecture for infinitely many elliptic curves. Our elliptic curves are easy to give explicitly and we state precisely which quadratic twists d to use. Furthermore, our methods have the potential of being generalized to elliptic curves over other number fields.