Universal covering Lie group ($p:\tilde{G}⟶G^{\circ }$)

The universal cover of a connected Lie group carries a unique lifted Lie group structure with a chosen identity, making its covering map a Lie group homomorphism. The kernel is a discrete central subgroup: conjugation of any kernel element is a continuous map from a connected group into a discrete set, hence constant. Every connected Lie group is therefore a quotient of its simply connected cover by a discrete central subgroup.