Modularity Lifting Theorems beyond the Taylor-Wiles Method. II

Abstract: In a previous paper [CG], we showed how one could generalize Taylor-Wiles modularity lifting theorems [Wil95, TW95] to contexts beyond those in which the automorphic forms in question arose from the middle degree cohomology of Shimura varieties, in particular, to contexts in which the relevant automorphic forms contributed to cohomology in exactly two degrees. In this sequel, we extend our method to the general case in which Galois representations are expected to occur in cohomology, contingent on the (as yet unproven) existence of certain Galois representations with the expected properties. As an application, we prove the following result (conditional on the conjectures mentioned above): If E is an elliptic curve over an arbitrary number field, then E is potentially modular, and the Sato-Tate conjecture holds for E.