Bounds on $2$-torsion in class groups of number fields and integral points on elliptic curves

We prove the first known nontrivial bounds on the sizes of the 2-torsion subgroups of the class groups of cubic and higher degree number fields $K$ (the trivial bound being $O_{\epsilon}(|{\rm Disc}(K)|^{1/2+\epsilon})$ by Brauer--Siegel). This yields corresponding improvements to: 1) bounds of Brumer and Kramer on the sizes of 2-Selmer groups and ranks of elliptic curves; 2) bounds of Helfgott and Venkatesh on the number of integral points on elliptic curves; 3) bounds on the sizes of 2-Selmer groups and ranks of Jacobians of hyperelliptic curves; and 4) bounds of Baily and Wong on the number of $A_4$-quartic fields of bounded discriminant.