On deformation rings of residually reducible Galois representations and \(R = T\) theorems (Q1938066)

The main goal of this well-written article is to provide a new way to prove \(R=T\) theorems for crystalline deformation rings of certain residually reducible Galois representations. This is accomplished by first developing a novel commutative algebra isomorphism criterion (Sections~2--4, especially Theorem~4.1) which reduces the proof of \(R=T\) theorems to the study of the reducible deformations. Then, Sections~5--8 develop a method for proving \(R=T\) theorems at the level of reducible deformations using congruences of modular forms and bounds on Selmer groups. This yields Theorems~8.5 and 8.6, which provide two sets of ``numerical conditions'' that imply an \(R=T\) theorem, the first of which is interpreted as saying that cases of the Bloch--Kato conjecture imply \(R=T\) theorems. The basic setup under consideration is that of the crystalline self-dual deformation ring \(R_\Sigma\) of a crystalline \(n\)-dimensional non-semisimple Galois representation \(\rho_0:G_F\rightarrow\mathrm{GL}_n(\mathbb F)\) whose semi-simplification is the sum of two distinct absolutely irreducible representations \(\rho_1\) and \(\rho_2\). Here, \(G_F\) is the absolute Galois group of the number field \(F\) and \(\mathbb F\) is a finite field of characteristic \(p>2\). Several others assumptions, outlined in Section~6.1, are imposed, most prominently Assumption 6.1. In particular, the universal crystalline deformation rings of \(\rho_1\) and \(\rho_2\) are assumed to be discrete valuation rings and a certain Selmer group for \(\mathrm{Hom}_{\mathbf F}(\rho_2,\rho_1)\) is assumed to be \(1\)-dimensional. Theorem~8.5 can then be interpreted as explaining how the \(p\)-part of the Bloch--Kato conjecture for \(\Hom(\tilde{\rho}_2,\tilde{\rho}_1)\) implies an \(R=T\) theorem for \(\rho_0\) (here \(\tilde{\rho}_i\) is the universal crystalline deformation of \(\rho_i\)). A key ingredient to the commutative algebra involved is that the ideal of reducibility of \(R_\Sigma\) is principal. Section~2 shows that if a pseudocharacter is essentially self-dual, then its ideal of reducibility is principal. Two applications of the method developed in this paper are included in the final two sections. Section~9 proves an \(R=T\) theorem in the case where \(\rho_0\) is a \(2\)-dimensional Galois representation of an imaginary quadratic field, expanding the previous results of the authors [Math. Ann. 349, No. 3, 675--703 (2011; Zbl 1220.11073)] where the ordinary deformation ring was considered. Then, in Section~10, whose main results remain conjectural, the authors discuss \(4\)-dimensional representations of \(G_{\mathbb Q}\) that are residually isomorphic to certain Yoshida lifts (so that the semi-simplification of the residual representation is essentially a direct sum of two representations attached to elliptic cusp forms).