On representations of $\mathrm{Gal}(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}/\mathbb{Q})$, $\widehat{GT}$ and $\mathrm{Aut}(\hat{F}_2)$

By work of Belyi, the absolute Galois group $G_{\mathbb{Q}}=\mathrm{Gal}(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}/\mathbb{Q})$ of the field $\mathbb{Q}$ of rational numbers can be embedded into $A=\mathrm{Aut}(\widehat{F_2})$, the automorphism group of the free profinite group $\widehat{F_2}$ on two generators. The image of $G_{\mathbb{Q}}$ lies inside $\widehat{GT}$, the Grothendieck-Teichm\"uller group. While it is known that every abelian representation of $G_{\mathbb{Q}}$ can be extended to $\widehat{GT}$, Lochak and Schneps put forward the challenge of constructing irreducible non-abelian representations of $\widehat{GT}$. We do this virtually, namely by showing that a rich class of arithmetically defined representations of $G_{\mathbb{Q}}$ can be extended to finite index subgroups of $\widehat{GT}$. This is achieved, in fact, by extending these representations all the way to finite index subgroups of $A=\mathrm{Aut}(\widehat{F_2})$. We do this by developing a profinite version of the work of Grunewald and Lubotzky, which provided a rich collection of representations for the discrete group $\mathrm{Aut}(F_d)$.