Explicit open images for elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Q}$

Abstract

For a non-CM elliptic curve $E$ defined over $\mathbb{Q}$, the Galois action on its torsion points gives rise to a Galois representation $\rho_E: Gal(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}/\mathbb{Q})\to GL_2(\widehat{\mathbb{Z}})$ that is unique up to isomorphism. A renowned theorem of Serre says that the image of $\rho_E$ is an open, and hence finite index, subgroup of $GL_2(\widehat{\mathbb{Z}})$. We describe an algorithm that computes the image of $\rho_E$ up to conjugacy in $GL_2(\widehat{\mathbb{Z}})$; this algorithm is practical and has been implemented. Up to a positive answer to a uniformity question of Serre and finding all the rational points on a finite number of explicit modular curves of genus at least $2$, we give a complete classification of the groups $\rho_E(Gal(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}/\mathbb{Q}))\cap SL_2(\widehat{\mathbb{Z}})$ and the indices $[GL_2(\widehat{\mathbb{Z}}):\rho_E(Gal(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}/\mathbb{Q}))]$ for non-CM elliptic curves $E/\mathbb{Q}$. Much of the paper is dedicated to the efficient computation of modular curves via modular forms expressed in terms of Eisenstein series.