 High moments of a clipped minimum of exponential sample means

Let $Z_n$ clip the minimum of $k$ independent exponential sample means into $[a,b]$, with $0<a<1/\lambda <b$. The rate function under scalar clipping is the minimum cost on this interval. Apply Varadhan's lemma to $\log z$. On the lower side its objective is increasing; on the upper side its derivative is $(k+1)/z-k\lambda$. Thus the optimum is $z_{\ast }=(k+1)/(k\lambda )$ once $k\ge (\lambda b-1{)}^{-1}$, giving the displayed limit. The expectation is of the high power, rather than a power of the mean; the latter has limit $-\log \lambda$.