Let
$X/\mathbb {F}_{q}$
be a smooth, geometrically connected, quasi-projective scheme. Let
$\mathcal {E}$
be a semi-simple overconvergent
$F$
-isocrystal on
$X$
. Suppose that irreducible summands
$\mathcal {E}_i$
of
$\mathcal {E}$
have rank 2, determinant
$\bar {\mathbb {Q}}_p(-1)$
, and infinite monodromy at
$\infty$
. Suppose further that for each closed point
$x$
of
$X$
, the characteristic polynomial of
$\mathcal {E}$
at
$x$
is in
$\mathbb {Q}[t]\subset \mathbb {Q}_p[t]$
. Then there exists a dense open subset
$U\subset X$
such that
$\mathcal {E}|_U$
comes from a family of abelian varieties on
$U$
. As an application, let
$L_1$
be an irreducible lisse
$\bar {\mathbb {Q}}_l$
sheaf on
$X$
that has rank 2, determinant
$\bar {\mathbb {Q}}_l(-1)$
, and infinite monodromy at
$\infty$
. Then all crystalline companions to
$L_1$
exist (as predicted by Deligne's crystalline companions conjecture) if and only if there exist a dense open subset
$U\subset X$
and an abelian scheme
$\pi _U\colon A_U\rightarrow U$
such that
$L_1|_U$
is a summand of
$R^{1}(\pi _U)_*\bar {\mathbb {Q}}_l$
.