LMFDB definition

Galois representations of genus 2 Jacobians

If AA is the Jacobian of a genus 2 curve CC defined over a field KK and mm is a positive integer, then the mod-mm Galois representation attached to AA is the continuous homomorphism ρ‾A,m:Gal⁡(K‾/K)→Aut⁡(A[m]) \overline\rho_{A,m}: \Gal(\overline{K}/K) \to \Aut(A[m]) describing the action of the absolute Galois group of KK on the mm-torsion subgroup A[m]A[m].

When the characteristic of KK does not divide m>1m\gt 1, we may identify the finite abelian group A[m]A[m] with (Z/mZ)4(\Z/m\Z)^4. Since the Weil pairing is a non-degenerate, alternating, bilinear pairing A[m]×A[m]→μmA[m] \times A[m] \to \mu_m equivariant with respect to the natural Galois action, we may view the representation as a map ρ‾A,m:Gal⁡(K‾/K)→GSp⁡(4,Z/mZ) \overline\rho_{A,m}: \Gal(\overline{K}/K) \to \GSp(4,\Z/m\Z) defined up to conjugation. In particular, when m=ℓm=\ell is prime different from the characteristic of KK, we have the mod-ℓ\ell Galois representation ρ‾A,ℓ:Gal⁡(K‾/K)→GSp⁡(4,Z/ℓZ). \overline\rho_{A,\ell}: \Gal(\overline{K}/K) \to \GSp(4,\Z/\ell\Z). Taking the inverse limit over prime powers m=ℓnm=\ell^n yields the ℓ\ell-adic Galois representation attached to AA, ρA,ℓ:Gal⁡(K‾/K)→Aut⁡(Tℓ(E))≅GSp⁡(4,Zℓ), \rho_{A,\ell}: \Gal(\overline{K}/K) \to \Aut(T_\ell(E)) \cong \GSp(4,\Z_\ell), which describes the action of the absolute Galois group of KK on Tℓ(A)T_\ell(A), the ℓ\ell-adic Tate module of AA.

When KK has characteristic zero one can take the inverse limit over all positive integers mm (ordered by divisibility) to obtain the adelic Galois representation ρA:Gal⁡(K‾/K)→GSp⁡(4,Z^). \rho_{A}: \Gal(\overline{K}/K) \to \GSp(4,\hat \Z).

LMFDB source · reviewed

Andrew Sutherland, Shiva Chidambaram. CC BY-SA 4.0. Snapshot 2026-09-22; formatting adapted for this site.

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