The arithmetic of QM-abelian surfaces through their Galois representations (Q706001)

Let \(K\) be a number field contained in an algebraic closure \(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}\) of the field \(\mathbb{Q}\) of rational numbers, and let \(B\) be an indefinite quaternionic \(\mathbb{Q}\)-algebra. An order \({\mathcal O}\) in \(B\) is a subring of rank 4 over \(\mathbb{Z}\) and such an order \({\mathcal O}\) is called ``hereditary'' if all its one-sided modules are projective. An abelian surface \(A\) defined over \(K\) is said to have quaternionic multiplication by \({\mathcal O}\) if there is an isomorphism \(i:{\mathcal O}@>\sim>> \text{End}_{\overline{\mathbb{Q}}}(A)\). The pair \((A,i)\) is then called an arithmetic QM-abelian surface, and an extension field \(L/K\) is called a field of definition for the pair \((A,i)\) if the structure map \(i\) induces an isomorphism \({\mathcal O}@>\sim>>\text{End}_L(A)\). In view of this basic set-up, the paper under review is devoted to the study of some arithmetic properties of QM-abelian surfaces defined over a number field \(K\). More precisely, the authors describe explicitly the minimal field of definition \(L/K\) of a QM-abelian surface \(A\) with respect to a hereditary order \({\mathcal O}\), the filtration of intermediate endomorphism algebras \(\text{End}_E(A)\otimes\mathbb{Q}\subset \text{End}_{\mathbb{Q}}(A)\otimes \mathbb{Q}\) for intermediate extension fields \(K\subset E\subset L\), and the action of the absolute Galois group \(G_K= \text{Gal}(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}/K)\) on the Tate module of the abelian surface \(A\). The main results are illustrated by a concrete example of \(\text{GL}_2\)-type, i.e., by the Jacobian \(A= J(C)\) of a special curve \(C\) of genus 2 over the number field \(K= \mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{-3})\). The results of the present paper complement some earlier work in this direction by several authors, including K. Ribet, A. Silverberg, K. Hashimoto, N. Murabayashi, M. Ohta, T. Chinburg, E. Friedman, and the authors of the paper under review themselves.