Applications of the square sieve to a conjecture of Lang and Trotter for a pair of elliptic curves over the rationals

Abstract

Let $E$ be an elliptic curve over $\mathbb{Q}$. Let $p$ be a prime of good reduction for $E$. Then, for a prime $p \neq \ell$, the Frobenius automorphism associated to $p$ (unique up to conjugation) acts on the $\ell$-adic Tate module of $E$. The characteristic polynomial of the Frobenius automorphism has rational integer coefficients and is independent of $\ell$. Its splitting field is called the Frobenius field of $E$ at $p$. Let $E_1$ and $E_2$ be two elliptic curves defined over $\mathbb{Q}$ that are non-isogenous over $\overline{\mathbb{Q}}$ and also without complex multiplication over $\overline{\mathbb{Q}}$. In analogy with the well-known Lang-Trotter conjecture for a single elliptic curve, it is natural to consider the asymptotic behaviour of the function that counts the number of primes $p \leq x$ such that the Frobenius fields of $E_1$ and $E_2$ at $p$ coincide. In this short note, using Heath-Brown's square sieve, we provide both conditional (upon the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis) and unconditional upper bounds.