Fold maps and immersions from the viewpoint of cobordism (Q1011617)

Fold maps of \(n+1\) dimensional manifolds into \(n\) dimensional ones are smooth maps whose only singularities are of the form \((x_1,\dots,x_{n+1})\to (x_1,\dots,x_{n-1},x_n^2\pm x_{m+1}^2)\). The singular set of a typical fold map \(f\) is a 2 codimensional submanifold of the source manifold, which is immersed into the target manifold by the restriction of \(f\). The author studies simple fold maps (i.e. those having at most one singular point in each connected component of a singular fiber) into a manifold \(P\), up to simple fold cobordism. The main result of the paper is the description of a complete set of geometric cobordism invariants of oriented simple fold maps. The invariants are described in terms of immersions with prescribed normal bundles. As an application, the author proves that the cobordism group of simple fold maps into \(\mathbb R^n\) is isomorphic to the direct sum of the \(n-1\)st stable homotopy groups of spheres and \(\mathbb R P^{\infty}\). The author also presents the natural map from the simple fold cobordism group to the fold cobordism group in terms of his geometric invariants.