2-Selmer groups and the Birch-Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture for the congruent number curves

We take an approach toward Counting the number of integers n for which the curve (n),: y(2) = x(3) - n(2)x has 2-Selmer groups of a given size. This question was also discussed in a pair of papers by Roger Heath-Brown. In contrast to earlier work, our analysis focuses oil restricting the number of prime factors of n. Additionally, we discuss the connection between computing the size of these Selmer groups and verifying cases of the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture. The key ingredient for the asymptotic formulae is the "independence" of the Legendre symbol evaluated at the prime divisors of an integer with exactly k prime factors. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.