Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 March 2010
We show that for any pair of elliptic curves E1, E2 over ℚ with j-invariant equal to 0, we can find a polynomial D ∈ ℤ[u, v] such that the cubic twists of the curves E1, E2 by D(u, v) have positive rank over ℚ(u, v). We also prove that for any quadruple of pairwise distinct elliptic curves Ei, i = 1, 2, 3, 4, with j-invariant j = 0, there exists a polynomial D ∈ ℤ[u] such that the sextic twists of Ei, i = 1, 2, 3, 4, by D(u) have positive rank. A similar result is proved for quadruplets of elliptic curves with j-invariant j = 1, 728.