Adding superscript to graph in R with no preceding character

Question

I'm trying to add a text in the form of ^ab to a graph instead of a^b.

This works fine:

> xlab = expression(paste("a"^"b"))

If I reverse them I get:

Error: unexpected '^' in "xlab = expression(paste(^"

What would be the correct way to implement it?

Answer 1

Try phantom()

plot(0, xlab = ~ phantom() ^ a * b)