Galois representations with big image in the general symplectic group \(\mathrm{GSp}_4( \mathbb{Z}_p)\) (Q2112781)

The author is interested in the following question: Given a prime number \(p\), does there exist a continuous Galois representation \(\rho: \mathrm{Gal}(\overline{\mathbb Q}/\mathbb Q) \to \mathrm{GSp}_4(\mathbb Z_p)\) satisfying the following two properties (i) \(\rho\) is unramified at all primes \(l \not= p\), (ii) the image of \(\rho\) contains a finite index subgroup of \(\mathrm{Sp}_4(\mathbb Z_p)\) ? A related question was first studied by \textit{R. Greenberg} [Ann. Math. Qué. 40, No. 1, 83--119 (2016; Zbl 1414.11151)], who showed that if \(p\) is a regular prime such that \(p > 4[n/2] + 1\), then there is a continuous Galois representation \(\rho: \mathrm{Gal}(\overline{\mathbb Q}/\mathbb Q) \to \mathrm{GL}(\mathbb Z_p)\) which is unramified away from \(p\) and has big image. Let \(e_p\) denote the irregularity index of an odd prime \(p\). If \(4e_p + 8 < \frac{p-1}{2}\), then the author can construct the corresponding examples. The main idea is to start from a residual diagonal representation and deform it, under certain hypothesis, producing a characteristic zero lift (a variant of the strategy used by \textit{A. Ray} [J. Number Theory 222, 168--180 (2021; Zbl 1470.11141)]). An example of how to find such representation in the first nontrivial case of \(p=37\) is given.