Immersions of non-orientable surfaces (Q881456)

In a series of previous papers (e.g. [Math. Ann. 328, 261-283 (2004; Zbl 1053.57021)]), the author studied finite order Vassiliev-type invariants of stable immersions of a closed orientable surface into \(\mathbb R^ 3\). In the paper under review he presents analogous results for immersions of non-orientable surfaces. Let \(F\) be a fixed closed non-orientable surface, \(\mathcal A\) a fixed regular homotopy class of immersions of \(F\) into \(\mathbb R^ 3\), and \(I_ 0\) be the space of all stable immersions in \(\mathcal A\). Given any Abelian group \(\mathbb G\), a \(\mathbb G\)-valued invariant (on \(I_ 0\)) is a function \(f: I_ 0\rightarrow \mathbb G\) which is constant on each connected component of \(I_ 0\). The author explains when such an invariant is of order \(n\). He then classifies all order one invariants, showing that a universal order one invariant can be written as \(T\oplus P\oplus Q\), where \(T\) is a \(\mathbb Z\)-valued invariant reflecting the number of triple points of the immersion, while \(P\) and \(Q\) are \(\mathbb Z_2\)-valued invariants characterized by the property that for any regularly homotopic immersions \(i,\,j: F\rightarrow \mathbb R^3\), \(P(i)-P(j)\in \mathbb Z_2\) is the number modulo \(2\) of tangency points and \(Q(i)-Q(j)\in \mathbb Z_2\) is the number modulo \(2\) of quadruple points occuring in any generic regular homotopy between \(i\) and \(j\). Then the author goes on to classify all higher order invariants, and he expresses them as explicit functions of \(T\oplus P\oplus Q\). He also gives an explicit formula for \(P(i\circ h)-P(i)\) and \(Q(i\circ h)-Q(i)\) for any diffeomorphism \(h: F\rightarrow F\) such that \(i\) and \(i\circ h\) are regularly homotopic. The formula is \(P(i\circ h)-P(i)=Q(i\circ h)-Q(i)=(\text{rank}(h_\ast - \text{Id})+\varepsilon(\text{det}\, h_{\ast\ast}))\bmod 2\), where \(h_\ast: H_ 1(F;\mathbb Z_2)\rightarrow H_ 1(F;\mathbb Z_2)\) and \(h_{\ast\ast}: H_ 1(F;\mathbb Q)\rightarrow H_ 1(F;\mathbb Q)\) are the homology isomorphisms induced by \(h\), and for rational numbers \(r\neq 0\), \(\varepsilon(r)\in \mathbb Z_2\) is defined to be \(0\) or \(1\) according to whether \(r\) is positive or negative, respectively. A comparison between the results for non-orientable surfaces and the results for orientable surfaces is also presented.