On the topological generation of exceptional groups by unipotent elements

Abstract: Let $G$ be a simple algebraic group of exceptional type over an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p \geqslant 0$ which is not algebraic over a finite field. Let $\mathcal{C}_1, \ldots, \mathcal{C}_t$ be non-central conjugacy classes in $G$. In earlier work with Gerhardt and Guralnick, we proved that if $t \geqslant 5$ (or $t \geqslant 4$ if $G = G_2$), then there exist elements $x_i \in \mathcal{C}_i$ such that $\langle x_1, \ldots, x_t \rangle$ is Zariski dense in $G$. Moreover, this bound on $t$ is best possible. Here we establish a more refined version of this result in the special case where $p>0$ and the $\mathcal{C}_i$ are unipotent classes containing elements of order $p$. Indeed, in this setting we completely determine the classes $\mathcal{C}_1, \ldots, \mathcal{C}_t$ for $t \geqslant 2$ such that $\langle x_1, \ldots, x_t \rangle$ is Zariski dense for some $x_i \in \mathcal{C}_i$.