I'm assuming you wish to denote the transpose of a matrix with \top
. Then, if the matrix is written as A_{ijk}^{a}
, you may want to write its transpose as {A_{ijk}^{a}}^{\!\!\top}
. The \!\!
directive (two negative-thinspaces) serves to "snug up" the superscript-\top
to the associated matrix.
If you have many matrix transpose expressions, it's useful to create a macro (called \tp
in the example below) to speed up the typing process. The default amount of "snugging up" is set to \mkern-6mu
, which is equivalent to \!\!
, i.e., to two negative thinspaces. The \tp
macro is set up to take an optional argument, to let you vary the amount of "snugging up" on a case-by-case basis.

\documentclass{article}
\newcommand\Amat{A_{ijk}^{a}}
\newcommand\tp[2][-6]{{#2}^{\mkern#1mu\top}} % 'transpose' macro
\begin{document}
\[
\Amat
\quad
{\Amat}^{\!\!\top} % '\!\!' is equivalent to '\mkern-6mu'
\quad
\tp{\Amat} % use '\tp' macro
\quad
\tp{\Amat} \! \Amat % inner product of \Amat with itself
\quad
\tp[-9]{\Amat} % tighter spacing: -9mu instead of -6mu
\]
\end{document}
a
. It is more evident when you use\ast
instead of\top
. – user15988 Sep 28 '18 at 15:51A_{ijk}^{a^{\ast}}
, but with the same size asA_{ijk}^{\ast}
. – user15988 Sep 28 '18 at 15:58A_{ijk}^{a^{\scriptstyle\ast}}
? – Ian Thompson Sep 28 '18 at 16:02