Precise Definition of a Group Parameterization

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I've ran across the term "parameterization" used in group theory, especially for Lie groups, but I've never seen group parameterization precisely defined.

From the context I usually find it in, it seems like a parameterization of a group $G$ is a mapping from a subset of a field to a representation of the group, where the subset is often defined by some finite number of constraints. For example, $SU(2)$ is parameterized by the subset of the field of quarternions obeying $qq^* = 1.$ It should be the case that $SO(3)$ can be parameterized by the same set, even though the mapping is only surjective in this case. Perhaps the latter is really an "inherited" parameterization since $SU(2)$ is the universal cover of $SO(3)$?

Does anybody know of a precise definition of group parameterization?

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Here is a tentative answer:

  1. Mathematicians prefer not to think in terms of a parameterization (of Lie groups), but work instead with an atlas of charts, making parameterizations local. Among the charts, the most important one is at $e\in G$ and the standard chart at $e$ is given by the exponential map (although the choice of a domain and codomain is ambiguous).

  2. For Lie groups, as for general manifolds, there are other notions of "parameterizations" used in the literature. The only commonality between these notions is that a parameterization is required to be a smooth map whose image in $G$ has nonempty interior and contain $e$. Domains of such maps are sometimes allowed to be other manifolds, sometimes are required to be open subsets in ${\mathbb R}^n$. The maps themselves are sometimes required to be local diffeomorphisms, sometimes not. Sometimes parameterizations are required to be injective/surjective, sometimes not.

  3. The definition of a parameterization given in this Wikipedia article is OK as a non-technical explanation, but is lacking mathematical rigor. In contrast, the linked OSU page is essentially an explanation of an atlas of charts for non-experts.