A manifold calculus approach to link maps and the linking number (Q1007193)

Let \(P_1\), \dots ,\(P_k\), \(N\) be smooth manifolds and let \(\text{Link}(P_1, \dots , P_k; N)\) be the space of links maps of \(P_1\cup \cdots\cup P_k\) in \(N\), i.e.~the space of smooth maps of \(P_1\cup \cdots \cup P_k\) in \(N\) such that the images of the \(P_i\) are disjoint. This space has been studied extensively by Milnor, Hatcher-Quinn, Habegger-Lin, Koschorke, and many others. In this paper, the author initiates its study from the point of view of the Goodwillie-Weiss manifold calculus of functors. Calculus of functors associates to \(\text{Link}(P_1, \dots , P_k; N)\), regarded as a functor of the poset of open subsets of \(P_1\cup \cdots\cup P_k\), a sequence of Taylor approximations \(T_j\text{Link}(P_1,\dots ,P_k; N)\), \(j\geq 0\). The author of the paper under review carries out a detailed description of \(T_1\text{Link}(P_1, \dots , P_k; N)\) and \(T_2\text{Link}(P_1, \dots , P_k; N)\), the linear and quadratic approximation, and then proceeds to study the difference between the functor \(\text{Link}(P_1, \dots , P_k; N)\) and these two approximations. Namely, the author gives maps from the homotopy fibers of the canonical maps \(\text{Link}(P_1, \dots , P_k; N)\to T_1\text{Link}(P_1, \dots , P_k; N)\) and \(\text{Link}(P_1, \dots , P_k; N)\to T_2\text{Link}(P_1, \dots , P_k; N)\) to certain cobordism spaces which are the models for the quadratic and cubic homogeneous layers of the Taylor tower (homotopy fibers of the maps \(T_3\text{Link}\to T_2\text{Link}\) and \(T_2\text{Link}\to T_1\text{Link}\)). The first map generalizes the classical linking number in the sense that when \(P_1\) and \(P_2\) are spheres and \(N\) is a Euclidean space of the appropriate dimension, the degree of this map gives the usual linking number. The map from the link space to the cubic homogeneous layer measures, in a suitable sense, the failure of the generalized Whitney trick. One application of the results in this paper is the detection, in the Taylor tower, of the linking of the Borromean rings. The author shows that the image of the Borromean rings is distinguished from the unlink in \(T_2\text{Link}(S^1, S^1, S^1; \mathbb{R}^3)\). The techniques and results of this paper are reminiscent of those the author employed in (Brian thesis) and further establish manifold calculus of functors as a powerful tool in the study of functors like embeddings or link maps. However, as the author discusses in the paper, many of the results that exist in the setting of embeddings, such as the convergence of the Taylor tower, are still open for link maps.