Level-raising and symmetric power functoriality. III. (Q516142)

This paper is part of a series of the authors establishing the existence of symmetric power lifts for classical modular forms over totally real fields. Recall that if \(F\) is a number field and \(\pi\) is a cuspidal automorphic representation of \(\mathrm{GL}_2(\mathbb{A}_F)\) and \(n\geq2\), then the Langlands conjectures predict the existence of an automorphic representation \(\Pi\) of \(\mathrm{GL}_{n+1}(\mathbb{A}_F)\) corresponding to the symmetric \(n\)-th power map of (connected) \(L\)-groups \(\mathrm{Sym}^n:\mathrm{GL}_2(\mathbb{C})\to \mathrm{GL}_{n+1}(\mathbb{C})\). This has been established for \(n=2,3,4\) (by Gelbart-Jacquet, Kim-Shahidi and Kim, resp.) but is not known for a general cuspidal automorphic representation \(\pi\) when \(n\geq5\). Suppose now that \(F\) is totally real and \(\pi\) is the automorphic representation corresponding to a classical modular cusp form over \(F\). Then attached to \(\pi\) one has an \(\ell\)-adic representation \(r_\ell(\pi):\mathrm{Gal}(\overline F/F)\to \mathrm{GL}_2(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}_\ell)\) (for some embedding of its field of coefficients into \(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}_\ell\)). Suppose that \(\pi\) is not of CM type. For \(n=6,8\), the authors show that if \(F\) is linearly disjoint from the cyclotomic field \(\mathbb{Q}(\zeta_{n-1})\) then there is a regular algebraic cuspidal automorphic representation \(\Pi\) of \(\mathrm{GL}_{n+1}(\mathbb{A}_F)\) such that \(\text{Sym}^n(r_\ell(\pi))\cong r_\ell(\Pi)\), where \(r_\ell(\Pi)\) is the \(\ell\)-adic Galois representation attached to \(\Pi\). (This is independent of the apparent choices.) Combining this with the authors' work [Ann. Math. (2) 181, No. 1, 303--359 (2015; Zbl 1339.11060)] and the earlier results for \(n\leq4\), it follows that there exists a symmetric power lifting \(\text{Sym}^n(\pi)\) for such \(\pi\) for all \(n\leq 8\) provided that \(F\) is linearly disjoint from \(\mathbb{Q}(\zeta_{35})\), and the associated \(n\)-th symmetric power \(L\)-function of \(\pi\) is entire. The authors' approach is through the deformation theory of modular Galois representations. In view of earlier work of \textit{T. Barnet-Lamb} et al. [J. Am. Math. Soc. 24, No. 2, 411--469 (2011; Zbl 1269.11045)], this result was known after a suitable base change. The paper under review shows the existence of \(\Pi\) over the field \(F\) itself. To establish this when \(n=8\) (for example), the authors consider the reduction modulo \(\ell\) of the attached Galois representation \(\mathrm{Sym}^8r_\ell(\pi)\), and base change to a suitable CM extension \(E\) of \(F\), obtaining a representation \(\overline{R}: G_E\to \mathrm{GL}_9(\overline{\mathbb{F}}_7)\), with \(G_E\) the absolute Galois group of \(E\). They then apply deformation theory. This requires showing the existence of a cuspidal automorphic lifting \(R:G_E\to \mathrm{GL}_9(\overline{\mathbb{Z}}_7)\) corresponding to an automorphic representation of \(\mathrm{GL}_9(\mathbb{A}_E)\) that is Steinberg at some finite place. This level-raising is the focus of much of the paper under review. It is carried out by extending arguments of the authors [loc. cit.]. In doing so, the interplay between certain integral structures and the endoscopic decomposition of global spaces of automorphic forms on unitary groups, established by \textit{C. P. Mok} [Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 1108, iii-v, 248 p. (2015; Zbl 1316.22018)], plays a key role.