Completing the classification of torsion subgroups for rational elliptic curves over sextic fields

Abstract

We complete the classification of torsion subgroups $E(K)_{\text{tors}}$ that can occur for an elliptic curve $E/\mathbb{Q}$ over a sextic number field $K$. Previous work determined the complete set of these groups, leaving the existence of only one group in question: $C_3 \oplus C_{18}$. We prove that this group does not occur. Our proof relies on the theory of Galois representations attached to elliptic curves. The assumed existence of a $C_3 \oplus C_{18}$ torsion subgroup would impose strong, simultaneous constraints on the mod-$2$ and $3$-adic Galois representations of the curve. By applying the recent classification of $\ell$-adic Galois images for elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Q}$, we translate these arithmetic constraints into a problem of Diophantine geometry: the $j$-invariant of such a curve must correspond to a rational point on one of the finitely many modular curves. We then analyze these curves using classical methods and show that none have the necessary rational points corresponding to elliptic curves without complex multiplication, thereby proving our main result.