Bernoulli–Hurwitz numbers, Wieferich primes and Galois representations

Let K be a quadratic imaginary number field with discriminant DK≠−3,−4 and class number one. Fix a prime p⩾7 which is unramified in K. Given an elliptic curve A/Q with complex multiplication by K, let be the representation which arises from the action of Galois on the Tate module. Herein it is shown that, for all but finitely many inert primes p, the image of a certain deformation of is “as large as possible”, that is, it is the full inverse image of a Cartan subgroup of SL(2,Zp). If p splits in K, then the same result holds as long as a certain Bernoulli–Hurwitz number is a p-adic unit which, in turn, is equivalent to a prime ideal not being a Wieferich place. The proof rests on the theory of elliptic units of Robert and Kubert–Lang, and on the two-variable main conjecture of Iwasawa theory for quadratic imaginary fields.