Lower bounds for the rank of families of abelian varieties under base change

Abstract: We consider the following question : given a family over abelian varieties $\mathcal{A}$ over a curve $B$ defined over a number field $k$, how does the rank of the Mordell-Weil group of the fibres $\mathcal{A}_t(k)$ vary? A specialisation theorem of Silverman guarantees that, for almost all $t$ in $C(k)$, the rank of the fibre is at least the generic rank, that is the rank of $\mathcal{A}(k(B))$. When the base curve $B$ is rational, we show, at least in many cases and under some geometric conditions, that there are infinitely many fibres for which the rank is larger than the generic rank. This paper is a sequel to a paper of the second author where the case of elliptic surfaces is treated.