Faltings-Serre method on three dimensional selfdual representations

Abstract

We prove that a selfdual $GL_3$-Galois representation constructed by van Geemen and Top is isomorphic to a quadratic twist of the symmetric square of the Tate module of an elliptic curve. This is an application of our refinement of the Faltings-Serre method to $3$-dimensional Galois representations with the ground field not equal to $\mathbb{Q}$. The proof makes use of the Faltings-Serre method, $\ell$-adic Lie algebra, and Burnside groups.