Maps between Jacobians of Shimura curves and congruence kernels (Q5929690)

Let \(p\geq 5\) be a prime number, \(N>0\) a squarefree integer and \(q\) a prime not dividing \(Np\). Let \(\rho\) be an absolutely irreducible representation in characteristic \(p\) of Gal\((\overline{\mathbb Q}/{\mathbb Q})\) coming from a newform of weight 2 on \(\Gamma_0(N)\cap \Gamma_1(q)\). The authors show that for \(r\geq 3\) \(\rho\) also comes from a newform of weight 2 on \(\Gamma_0(Np^r)\cap \Gamma_1(q)\). The interesting feature is that the raised level differs from the old level by a power of \(p\), the characteristic of the representation space. Via Jacquet-Langlands correspondence, this result is first reduced to showing that the kernel of the degeneracy map for the Jacobians of certain Shimura curves coming from suitably constructed quaternion algebras is Eisenstein. The modular symbols, which would be used to prove similar results in the split case [cf. \textit{C. Khare}, Duke Math. J. 80, 631-667 (1995; Zbl 0857.11021)], are here replaced by the congruence kernel for the arithmetic groups under consideration.