On the density of images of the power maps in Lie groups

Abstract

Let $G$ be a connected Lie group. In this paper, we study the density of the images of individual power maps $P_k:G\to G:g\mapsto g^k$. We give criteria for the density of $P_k(G)$ in terms of regular elements, as well as Cartan subgroups. In fact, we prove that if ${\rm Reg}(G)$ is the set of regular elements of $G$, then $P_k(G)\cap {\rm Reg}(G)$ is closed in ${\rm Reg}(G)$. On the other hand, the weak exponentiality of $G$ turns out to be equivalent to the density of all the power maps $P_k$. In linear Lie groups, weak exponentiality reduces to the density of $P_2(G)$. We also prove that the density of the image of $P_k$ for $G$ implies the same for any connected full rank subgroup.