False division towers of elliptic curves (Q1577629)

Let \({\mathfrak M}\) denote the compositum of all modular function fields for subgroups of finite index in \(\text{SL}(2, \mathbb{Z})\). Given a subgroup \(\Gamma\) of finite index in \(\text{SL}(2, \mathbb{Z})\), let \({\mathfrak M}^\Gamma\) be the corresponding modular function field, for example, \({\mathfrak M}^{\text{SL}(2,\mathbb{Z})}= \mathbb{C}(j)\). If \(N\) is a positive integer, let \(\Gamma(N)\) be the principal congruence subgroup of level \(N\). Let \(p\geq 7\) be a prime, in this paper it is proved that there is a unique subfield \({\mathfrak L}\) of \({\mathfrak M}\) which contains \({\mathfrak M}^{\Gamma(p)}\) and is Galois over \(\mathbb{C}(j)\) with Galois group \(\text{Gal} ({\mathfrak L}/\mathbb{C}(j))\cong \text{PSL}(2, \mathbb{Z}_p[[X]])\), and that \({\mathfrak L}\) is the compositum of all subfields \({\mathfrak K}\) of \({\mathfrak M}\) which contains \({\mathfrak M}^{\Gamma(p)}\) and are Galois over \(\mathbb{C}(j)\) with \(\text{Gal} ({\mathfrak K}/\mathbb{C}(j))\cong \text{PSL}(2,\mathbb{Z}/p^n\mathbb{Z})\), for some \(n\geq 1\). Furthermore, it is shown that the extension \({\mathfrak L}/\mathbb{C}(j)\) is defined over any subfield of \(\mathbb{C}\) containing all \(p\)-power roots of unity. Fix a subfield \(F\) of \(\mathbb{C}\) containing all \(p\)-power roots of unity, and let \(L\) be the unique Galois extension of \(F(j)\) contained in \({\mathfrak L}\) with \(\text{Gal}(L/F(j))\cong \text{PSL} (2,\mathbb{Z}_p[[X]])\). Let \(E\) be an elliptic curve over \(F(j)\) with invariant \(j\). It is a classical result that \(\text{Gal} (F(j,E[p^\infty])/ F(j))\cong \text{SL}(2,\mathbb{Z}_p)\). The author shows that there is an isomorphism of \(\text{Gal} (L(E[p^\infty])/F(j))\) onto \(\text{SL} (2,\mathbb{Z}_p [[X]])\) such that the restriction \[ \text{Gal} (L(E[p^\infty])/ F(j))\to \text{Gal} (F(j,E[p^\infty])/ F(j)) \] corresponds to the map obtained by specializing \(X\) to 0, i.e., the map induced by the homomorphism of topological rings \(\mathbb{Z}_p[[X]]\to \mathbb{Z}_p\) sending \(X\) to 0. Since \(X\) can be specialized to any element of \(p\mathbb{Z}_p\), we see that in addition to the ``true'' division tower of \(E\) over \(F(j)\) there are many ``false'' division towers over \(F(j)\) with the same Galois group \(\text{SL} (2,\mathbb{Z}_p)\). Specializing \(j\), similar results for elliptic curves over number fields with \(j\)-invariant not in a certain ``thin set'' are obtained.