Controlling Selmer groups in the higher core rank case

Abstract

We define Kolyvagin systems and Stark systems attached to $p$-adic representations in the case of arbitrary `core rank' (the core rank is a measure of the generic Selmer rank in a family of Selmer groups). Previous work dealt only with the case of core rank one, where the Kolyvagin and Stark systems are collections of cohomology classes. For general core rank, they are collections of elements of exterior powers of cohomology groups. We show under mild hypotheses that for general core rank these systems still control the size and structure of Selmer groups, and that the module of all Kolyvagin (or Stark) systems is free of rank one.