The Mumford-Tate conjecture for Drinfeld-modules (Q1378351)

Let \(F\) be a global field of positive characteristic; fix the place \(\infty\) of \(F\) and let \(A\) be the ring of elements of \(F\) regular outside \(\infty\). Consider a Drinfeld module \(\varphi: A\to K\) defined on a finite extension \(K\) of \(F\). For all places \(\lambda\) of \(F\), \(\lambda\neq\infty\), the previous data induce a Galois representation \[ \rho_\lambda: \text{Gal} (K^{\text{sep}},K)\to \text{GL} (T_\lambda(\varphi) \otimes_{{\mathcal O}_\lambda} F_\lambda), \] where \(T_\lambda(\varphi)\) is the Tate module of \(\varphi\) [\textit{V. G. Drinfeld}, Math. USSR, Sb. 23, 561-592 (1974); translation from Mat. Sb., Nov. Ser. 94(136), 594-627 (1974; Zbl 0321.14014)], where \(F_\lambda\) is the completion of \(F\) at \(\lambda\) and \({\mathcal O}_\lambda\) is its valuation ring. The author studies the image of \(\rho_\lambda\) and proves that it is as big as possible: for example, under the hypothesis that the ring of endomorphisms (defined over an algebraic closure of \(K\)) is equal to \(A\) (which is not a big restriction), the image of \(\rho_\lambda\) is open. The author determines also the Dirichlet density for sets of places with prescribed reduction type of \(\varphi\). Note that \((K,\varphi)\) plays the same role as \((k,\Phi)\), where \(k\) is a number field and \(\Phi\) is an abelian variety defined over \(k\). Moreover, let \(C\) be the completion of an algebraic closure of \(F_\infty\) (the completion of \(F\) at \(\infty\)). Then there exists a projective \(A\)-submodule \(M\) of \(C\) that ``uniformizes'' \(\varphi\) (Drinfeld, loc. cit.), which is related to the De Rham cohomology of \(\varphi\) [\textit{E.-U. Gekeler}, Sémin. Théor. Nombres, Paris/Fr 1988-89, Prog. Math. 91, 57-85 (1990; Zbl 0728.14024)] and such that, canonically, \(T_\lambda (\varphi)\otimes_{{\mathcal O}_\lambda} F_\lambda\simeq M\otimes_A F_\lambda\). Maybe, these last lines explain the arithmetic nature of the (interesting) problem studied here and also the title of this article.