Which weakly ramified group actions admit a universal formal deformation? (Q2390084)

Let \(\rho : G \to \mathrm{Aut}_kk[[t]]\) be a faithful representation of a finite group \(G\), where \(k[[t]]\) is the power series ring in one variable \(t\) over a perfect field \(k\) of positive characteristic. The representation \(\rho\) determines a filtration \(G\supseteq G_1 \supseteq \cdots \) by ramification groups \(G_i= \{\mathrm{ord}(\rho(t)-t)> i\}\). When \(G_2=0\) the representation is called weakly ramified. A deformation of the representation \(\rho\) is a lifiting \(\tilde{\rho} : G \to \mathrm{Aut}_AA[[t]]\), where \(A\) is an Artinian algebra over the Witt vectors of \(k\). Versal deformations of weakly ramified representations \(\rho\) of the finite group \(G\) have been determined earlier by \textit{J. Bertin} and \textit{A. Mézard} [Invent. Math. 141, No.~1, 195--238 (2000; Zbl 0993.14014)], \textit{G. Cornelissen} and \textit{F. Kato} [Duke Math. J. 116, No.~3, 431--470 (2003; Zbl 1092.14032)], and \textit{G. Cornelissen} and \textit{A. Mézard} [Math. Z. 254, No.~2, 239--255 (2006; Zbl 1108.14024)]. The authors of the present article investigate whether these versal deformations are pro-representable or not. Their main result is that weakly ramified local representations of a finite group \(G\) is pro-representable unless the characteristic \(\mathrm{char}(k)=2\) and the group \(G\) is the group on two elements or the Klein four group. The authors obtain a similar description of the related equicharacteristic deformation functor.