An \(R = T\) theorem for imaginary quadratic fields (Q623328)

The authors prove the modularity of certain reducible Galois representations of an imaginary quadratic number field \(F\), assuming the uniqueness of the residual representation, via an \(R=T\) theorem. As a by-product to their proof, it follows that the Eisenstein ideal is principal and the Hecke algebra \(T\) is a complete intersection. The proof of the \(R=T\) theorem is based on the following argument: Let \(\Sigma\) be a finite set of places of \(F\) and \(F_\Sigma\) denote the maximal extension of \(F\) unramified outside \(\Sigma\). Let \(\rho_0: \text{Gal}(F_\Sigma/F)\rightarrow \text{GL}_2(\mathbb{F})\) be a continuous representation, where \(\mathbb{F}\) is a finite field. Let \(I_{re}\) be the ideal of reducibility of the universal deformation ring \(R\) and let \(J\) be the Eisenstein ideal of the Hecke algebra \(T\). Then there is a surjection \(R/I_{re}\twoheadrightarrow T/J\). In [Compos. Math. 145, No. 3, 603--632 (2009; Zbl 1247.11081)], the first named author obtained a lower bound on the size of \(T/J\) (say by \(\mathfrak{B}\) for the sake of exposition) explicitly in terms of a special value of a relevant Hecke \(L\)-function. On the other hand, the authors prove that if \(\#R/I_{re}>\mathfrak{B}\), then the main conjecture of Iwasawa theory (as proved by Rubin) implies that there are no upper-triangular \(\Sigma\)-minimal deformations of \(\rho_0\) to \(R/I_{re}\), which, together with the non-existence of non-trivial upper-triangular deformations (proved by the authors in an earlier work [J. Inst. Math. Jussieu 8, No. 4, 669--692 (2009; Zbl 1248.11040)]) imply that \(\#R/I_{re}\leq\mathfrak{B}\). This in turn shows that \(R/I_{re}\) is isomorphic to \(T/J\). Then a commutative algebra lemma the authors prove allow them to deduce that \(R=T\). The paper is very well written. The introduction gives a very nice summary of the details to follow and also of the prior results related to the main theorem of the paper.