Solution

The two unheaded requests are addressed here; the individual group-cover calculations are in the scoped parts below. A quaternion $q=a+bi+cj+dk$ has norm $|q{|}^2=a^2+b^2+c^2+d^2$. Thus the unit quaternions form exactly the sphere $S^3\subset {\mathbb{R}}^4$, with quaternion multiplication giving its smooth group structure. The explicit identification with the special unitary group $SU(2)$ isThe matrices representing $i,j,k$ satisfy the quaternion multiplication relations. The displayed matrix obeys $U^{†}U=|q{|}^{2}I$ and $\det U=|q{|}^2$; conversely every $SU(2)$ matrix has that form with $|q|=1$. Hence $S^3$ is the manifold of unit quaternions, and its group is $SU(2)$.

For the exterior-square double cover of SO(3,3), fix a basis $e_1,\dots ,e_4$ and volume element $v=e_1\wedge e_2\wedge e_3\wedge e_4$. Define the symmetric bilinear form $Q$ on the six-dimensional exterior square byIt is symmetric because two-forms commute under the wedge product. PutThen $Q(a_i,a_j)=Q(b_i,b_j)=0$ and $Q(a_i,b_j)={\delta }_{ij}$. The Gram matrix is $\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& I_3\\ I_3& 0\end{array}\right)$: the vectors $(a_i+b_i)/\sqrt{2}$ have norm $+1$, while $(a_i-b_i)/\sqrt{2}$ have norm $-1$. Therefore the quadratic form $\omega \mapsto \omega \wedge \omega$ has signature $(3,3)$.

For $A\in SL(4,\mathbb{R})$,Thus $\rho (A)={\Lambda }^{2}A$ preserves $Q$. The special linear group is connected: polar decomposition of an invertible real matrix writes $A=OP$ with $O\in SO(4)$ and $P$ positive definite of determinant one, and both factors can be joined to the identity. The image consequently lies in $S{O}_0(3,3)$.

If ${\Lambda }^{2}A=I$, then $Au\wedge Aw=u\wedge w$ for every pair, so $A$ preserves every two-plane. A line is an intersection of two such planes, hence every line is preserved. A linear map preserving every line is scalar: apply it to basis vectors and then to their pairwise sums. Thus $A=\lambda I$, and ${\Lambda }^{2}A=I$ forces ${\lambda }^2=1$. The kernel is exactly $\{\pm I\}$. It is discrete, so the derivative of $\rho$ is injective. Both Lie algebras have dimension $15$, making the image open; an open subgroup of a connected group is the whole group. HenceThe identity-component restriction is essential. The same principle of an explicit form-preserving representation, kernel calculation and dimension argument supplies the five remaining covers.