Databases of elliptic curves ordered by height and distributions of Selmer groups and ranks (1602.01894v2)

Abstract: Most systematic tables of data associated to ranks of elliptic curves order the curves by conductor. Recent developments, led by work of Bhargava-Shankar studying the average sizes of $n$-Selmer groups, have given new upper bounds on the average algebraic rank in families of elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Q}$ ordered by height. We describe databases of elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Q}$ ordered by height in which we compute ranks and $2$-Selmer group sizes, the distributions of which may also be compared to these theoretical results. A striking new phenomenon observed in these databases is that the average rank eventually decreases as height increases.