English

On obstructions to the Euler system method for Rankin-Selberg convolutions

Number Theory 2026-03-16 v4

Abstract

To apply the Euler system method to a pp-adic Galois representation TT, one needs the existence of a σGQ(μp)\sigma \in G_{\mathbb{Q}(\mu_{p^{\infty}})} such that V/(σ1)VV/(\sigma-1)V is free of rank one over the coefficient ring: we say that such a σ\sigma is an Euler-suitable element for VV. Given a non-CM classical newform ff of weight k2k \geq 2 and character χ\chi, a classical newform gg of weight 11 and character ψ\psi, and a prime ideal p\mathfrak{p} of residue characteristic pp of a sufficiently large number field, we consider the situation where V=Vf,g,pV=V_{f,g,\mathfrak{p}} is the tensor product of the p\mathfrak{p}-adic representations attached to ff and gg. D. Loeffler asked the following question: is is true that if χψ1\chi\psi \neq 1, then there is an Euler-suitable element for Vf,g,pV_{f,g,\mathfrak{p}} for all but finitely many p\mathfrak{p}? He gave a positive answer when f,gf,g had coprime conductors. We give several weaker sufficient conditions to answer this question in the affirmative. As an application, we remove some of the technical assumptions in the version of the Bloch-Kato Conjecture proved in arXiv:1503.02888. We also show that the general answer to the question is negative, by constructing a family of counter-examples, and giving additional counter-examples that do not fit in this family.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2401.17769,
  title  = {On obstructions to the Euler system method for Rankin-Selberg convolutions},
  author = {Elie Studnia},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.17769},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Various small edits; this is close to the soon-to-be-published version. The introduction now correctly describes results by Loeffler in the case of higher weights. The claim made in previous versions was false; one can find counter-examples using similar techniques as those in this article. This does not affect the rest of the paper. We thank Loeffler for pointing out this error. Comments welcome!

R2 v1 2026-06-28T14:32:57.808Z