Algebraic monodromy groups of \(l\)-adic representations of \(\mathrm{Gal}(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}/\mathbb{Q})\) (Q2324672)

Let \(G\) be a connected reductive algebraic group. The purpose of this paper is to prove that if \(\ell\) is a large enough prime number, then there exists a continuous homomorphism \(\rho : \operatorname{Gal}(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}/\mathbb{Q}) \to G(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}_\ell)\) with Zariski dense image. The idea of the proof is to start with an appropriate mod \(\ell\) Galois representation, and deform it to characteristic zero using ideas of \textit{R. Ramakrishna} [Ann. Math. (2) 156, No. 1, 115--154 (2002; Zbl 1076.11035)] and \textit{S. Patrikis} [Invent. Math. 205, No. 2, 269--336 (2016; Zbl 1358.11064)]. The author also raises the question of whether \(\rho\) can be taken to be geometric, and points out that (assuming the Fontaine-Mazur conjecture) there is no continuous homomorphism \(\rho : \operatorname{Gal}(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}/\mathbb{Q}) \to \operatorname{SL}_2(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}_\ell)\) with Zariski dense image that is also unramified almost everywhere and potentially semistable at \(\ell\). The main question, several variations, and the proof of the main theorem are carefully discussed in the paper's informative introduction.