An upper bound and criteria for the Galois group of weighted walks with rational coefficients in the quarter plane

Abstract

Using Mazur's theorem on torsions of elliptic curves, an upper bound 24 for the order of the finite Galois group $\mathcal{H}$ associated with weighted walks in the quarter plane $\mathbb{Z}^2_+$ is obtained. The explicit criterion for $\mathcal{H}$ to have order 4 or 6 is rederived by simple geometric argument. Using division polynomials, a recursive criterion for $\mathcal{H}$ having order $4m$ or $4m+2$ is also obtained. As a corollary, explicit criterion for $\mathcal{H}$ to have order 8 is given and is much simpler than the existing method.