Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 April 2009
Let E be an elliptic curve with complex multiplication by R, where R is an order of discriminant D < −4 of an imaginary quadratic field K. If a prime number p is decomposed completely in the ring class field associated with R, then E has good reduction at a prime ideal p of K dividing p and there exist positive integers u and υ such that 4p = u2 – Du;2. It is well known that the absolute value of the trace ap of the Frobenius endomorphism of the reduction of E modulo p is equal to u. We determine whether ap = u or ap = −u in the case where the class number of R is 2 or 3 and D is divisible by 3, 4 or 5.