Unipotent elements and generalized exponential maps

Abstract: Let $G$ be a simple and simply connected algebraic group over an algebraically closed field $\Bbbk$ of characteristic $p>0$. Assume that $p$ is good for the root system of $G$ and that the covering map $G_{sc} \rightarrow G$ is separable. In previous work we proved the existence of a (not necessarily unique) Springer isomorphism for $G$ that behaved like the exponential map on the resticted nullcone of $G$. In the present paper we give a formal definition of these maps, which we call `generalized exponential maps.' We provide an explicit and uniform construction of such maps for all root systems, demonstrate their existence over $\mathbb{Z}_{(p)}$, and give a complete parameterization of all such maps. One application is that this gives a uniform approach to dealing with the "saturation problem" for a unipotent element $u$ in $G$, providing a new proof of the known result that $u$ lies inside a subgroup of $C_G(u)$ that is isomorphic to a truncated Witt group. We also develop a number of other explicit and new computations for $\mathfrak{g}$ and for $G$. This paper grew out of an attempt to answer a series of questions posed to us by P. Deligne, who also contributed several of the new ideas that appear here.