Breuil-Kisin modules and integral \(p\)-adic Hodge theory (with Appendix A by Yoshiyasu Ozeki, and Appendix B by Hui Gao and Tong Liu) (Q6056480)

This paper is concerned with certain algebraic structures in integral \(p\)-adic Hodge theory. The main innovation is the construction of a new category of so called \textit{Breuil-Kisin \(G_K\)-modules}. This category is then used to classify \textit{integral semi-stable Galois representations}. Comparing cohomology theories is an essential part of the (using the author's words) \textit{geometric direction} of classical \(p\)-adic Hodge theory as is recalled in Theorem 1.1.2 of the introduction. Comparing cohomology theories is paralleled in the \textit{algebraic direction} by understanding \(p\)-adic Galois representations, i.e., \(p\)-adic continuous representations of the absolute Galois group \(G_K\) of a \(p\)-adic field \(K\), via categories of semi-linear objects (Theorem 1.1.3). Intergral \(p\)-adic Hodge theory (in the geometric direction) has recently seen tremendous progress through the definition of integral \(p\)-adic cohomology theories of Bhatt-Morrow-Scholze and Bhatt-Scholze and respective comparison theorems (recalled in Theorem 1.1.7). In the context of Galois representations (i.e., in the algebraic direction) one is led to the following question: Can one construct a category of semi-linear objects that is equivalent to the category of \(G_K\)-stable \(\mathbb{Z}_p\)-lattices in semi-stable \(G_K\)-representations? The main theorem of the paper at hand (Theorem 1.1.11) answers this affirmatively with the category of Breuil-Kisin \(G_K\)-modules (see Definition 1.1.8). It generalizes various prior results on the above question by different authors (see Remark 1.1.13). As the author explains in the paper, the category Breuil-Kisin \(G_K\)-modules should be understood as an \textit{algebraic avatar} of the integral \(p\)-adic cohomology theories of Bhatt-Morrow-Scholze and Bhatt-Scholze. The category and the results of the paper at hand are also of interest in the context of the Emerton-Gee stack of \((\varphi, \Gamma)\)-modules. This relationship is explained in Section 7.3 of the paper. Finally, the paper contains an appendix (Appendix B) where the authors (Gao, Liu) use the category of Breuil-Kisin \(G_K\)-modules to fix a gap in their previous work. The paper also contains a second appendix (Appendix A, by Ozeki), which gives a counter-example to Proposition 3.7 in [\textit{X. Caruso}, Duke Math. J. 162, No. 13, 2525--2607 (2013; Zbl 1294.11207)]. In Section 7.4 it is explained that the paper at hand is unaffected by that mistake.