Division fields of elliptic curves with minimal ramification (Q2633986)

Let \(E\) be an elliptic curve defined over \(\mathbb{Q}\), and let \(p\) be a prime number. The existence of the Weil pairing implies that the \(p^n\)-th division field \(\mathbb{Q}(E[p^n])\) contains the cyclotomic field \(\mathbb{Q}(\zeta_{p^n})\), where \(\zeta_{p^n}\) is a primitive \(p^n\)-th root of unity. It follows that the Galois extension \(\mathbb{Q}(E[p^n]/\mathbb{Q}\) is ramified above \(p\), and the ramification index of any prime \(\mathfrak{p}\) of \(\mathbb{Q}(E[p^n])\) lying above \(p\) is divisible by \(\varphi(p^n)\). The goal of this article is to construct elliptic curves \(E\) over \(\mathbb{Q}\) such that the ramification index is precisely equal to \(\varphi(p^n)\). The main theorem is as follows: For every ordinary \(j\)-invariant \(\lambda\in\mathbb{F}_p\), with \(\lambda\not\equiv 0\), \(1728\) mod \(p\), there are infinitely many non-isomorphic, non-CM, elliptic curves \(E\) over \(\mathbb{Q}\) such that {\parindent=7mm \begin{itemize}\item[(1)] \(j(E)\equiv \lambda\) mod \(p\) and \(E/\mathbb{Q}\) has ordinary good reduction at \(p\); \item[(2)] the ramification index of \(p\) in the extension \(\mathbb{Q}(E[p^n])/\mathbb{Q}\) is exactly equal to \(\varphi(p^n)\); \item[(3)] \(E[p]\) is an irreducible \(\mathrm{Gal}(\bar{\mathbb{Q}}/\mathbb{Q})\)-module. Moreover it is shown that when \(p\geq 17\), the associated Galois representation \(\mathrm{Gal}(\bar{\mathbb{Q}}/\mathbb{Q})\rightarrow \mathrm{GL}(2,\mathbb{Z}/p^n\mathbb{Z})\) is surjective. \end{itemize}}