Big images of two-dimensional pseudorepresentations

Abstract

Bella\"iche has recently applied Pink-Lie theory to prove that, under mild conditions, the image of a continuous 2-dimensional pseudorepresentation $\rho$ of a profinite group on a local pro-$p$ domain $A$ contains a nontrivial congruence subgroup of ${\rm SL}_2(B)$ for a certain subring $B$ of $A$. We enlarge Bella\"iche's ring and give this new $B$ a conceptual interpretation in terms of conjugate self-twists of $\rho$, symmetries that naturally constrain its image. As a corollary, this new $B$ is optimal among congruence subgroups contained in the image. We also interpret the new $B$ vis-a-vis the adjoint trace ring of $\rho$, which we show is a more natural ring for these questions in general. Finally, we use our purely algebraic result to recover and extend a variety of arithmetic big-image results for ${\rm GL}_2$ Galois representations arising from elliptic, Hilbert, and Bianchi modular forms and $p$-adic Hida or Coleman families of elliptic and Hilbert modular forms.