A connectedness criterion for \(\ell\)-adic Galois representations (Q1355244)

For \(\ell\)-adic Galois representations \(\rho_\ell\) on the étale cohomology of smooth proper varieties over a number field \(K\) it is conjectured that the image is a reductive \(\ell\)-adic Lie group, in some sense ``independent of \(\ell\)''. J. P. Serre has at least shown that the group of connected components of the algebraic hull is independent of \(\ell\), defining a finite Galois extension \(K^{\text{conn}}\) of \(K\). It is contained in all the fixed fields \(K_\ell\) of \(\ker(\rho_\ell)\). The main result of the paper states that \(K^{\text{conn}}= \bigcap_\ell K_\ell\), where \(\ell\) runs over a set of primes which has relative Dirichlet density one in the set of all rational primes splitting in a fixed number field \(E\). The proof uses Serre's techniques as well as some Chebotarev arguments.