Complexity of matrix powering Let $M$ be a square integer matrix, and let $n$ be a positive integer. I am interested in the complexity of the following decision problem:

Is the top-right entry of $M^n$ positive?

Note that the obvious approach of iterated squaring (or any other explicit calculation) requires us to potentially handle integers of doubly exponential magnitude, i.e., having exponentially many bits. However the problem is easily seen to be in Allender et al.'s "PosSLP" class ("On the Complexity of Numerical Analysis", SIAM J. Comput. 38(5)), and therefore in the fourth level of the counting hierarchy.

1) Is it possible to place this matrix powering problem in a lower complexity class?

2) If not, could it conceivably be PosSLP-hard?

3) I am especially interested in the matrix powering problem for low-dimensional matrices, i.e. up to and including 6x6 matrices. Might the complexity be lower for such matrices?
For matrices of sizes $k = 2,3$ the Matrix Powering Positivity Problem is in $\mathsf{P}$ (cf. this paper to appear in STACS 2015)