On the local converse theorem and the descent theorem in families (Q2182423)

Let \(F\) be a finite extension of \(\mathbb{Q}_p\) and suppose that \(l\neq p\) is prime distinct from \(p\). Suppose that \(k\) is an algebraically closed field of characteristic \(l\), and let \(W(k)\) denote the associated ring of Witt vectors, with fraction field \(\mathcal{K}=W(k)[1/l]\). In the article under review, the authors prove an analogue of the (recently established) conjecture of Jacquet on the local converse theorem for \(\gamma\)-factors. The context in which they work is \(l\)-adic families of representations of \(\mathrm{GL}_n(F)\) representations. This setting is interesting for, among other things, the study of congruences between representations. The representations considered are valued in Noetherian \(W(k)\)-algebras \(A\), giving rise to an \(l\)-adic family of \(\mathrm{GL}_n(F)\) representations indexed by \(\mathrm{Spec}(A).\) For elementary reasons, the most interesting such representations are rarely irreducible, and the basic objects in the present work are ``co-Whittaker'' representations. Essentially, these are admissible \(A[\mathrm{GL}_n(F)]\)-modules such that each quotient has a unique Whittaker module. For \(W(k)\)-modules \(A\) and \(B\), \(\pi\) an \(A[\mathrm{GL}_n(F)]\)-module, and \(\tau\) a \(B[\mathrm{GL}_m(F)]\)-module, one of the authors previously developed the appropriate notion of Rankin-Selberg \(\gamma\)-factors \(\gamma(\pi\times \tau,\psi)\), where \(\psi\) is an appropriate additive character [\textit{G. Moss}, Int. Math. Res. Not. 2016, No. 16, 4903--4936 (2016; Zbl 1404.22043)]. A weak form of the local converse theorem was established in [loc. cit.]. Fix a \(W(k)\)-algebra \(A\) which is reduced, torsion-free, and of finite type. Let \(\pi_1\) and \(\pi_2\) be two co-Whittaker representations of \(A[\mathrm{GL}_n(F)]\), the authors show that if \[ \gamma(\pi_1\times \tau,\psi)=\gamma(\pi_2\times \tau,\psi) \] for all irreducible generic integral \(\overline{\mathcal{K}}[\mathrm{GL}_k(F)]\)-modules \(\tau\), for \(1\leq k\leq \frac{n}{2}\), then \(\pi_1\) and \(\pi_2\) have the same semi-simplifications. This result ought to play a similar role in the conjectural local Langlands correspondence of [\textit{M. Emerton} and \textit{D. Helm}, Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 47, No. 4, 655--722 (2014; Zbl 1321.11055)] as the classical converse theorem has played in the classical theory. Upon fixing an isomorphism of fields \(\mathbb{C}\cong \overline{\mathcal{K}}\), this gives a slight strengthening of the main result of \textit{H. Jacquet} and \textit{B. Liu} [Am. J. Math. 140, No. 5, 1399--1422 (2018; Zbl 1451.11042)]. The proof is an \(l\)-adic analogue of the proof of Jacquet's conjecture over \(\mathbb{C}\) in [loc. cit.], relying on an integral version of Fourier inversion and descent over an arbitrary \(W(k)\)-algebra.