On existence of higher order immersions (Q1179315)

All manifolds are assumed to be smooth and closed. Let \(M\) be an \(n\)- manifold, \(T^ pM\) the \(p\)th order tangent bundle of \(M\), and \(\nu(n,p)={n+p \brack p}-1\) the fibre dimension of \(T^ pM\). Let \(f: M\to N\) be a continuous map, then \({\mathcal N}^ p_ f\) denotes the \(p\)th order stable normal bundle of \(f\) and \(N^ p_ f\) the \(p\)th order normal bundle of \(f\) for \(f\) being a \(p\)-immersion. Let \({\mathcal W}^ p_ k(f)\) and \(W^ p_ k(f)\) be the \(k\)th unreduced Stiefel-Whitney class of \({\mathcal N}^ p_ f\) and \(N^ p_ f\), respectively. Let \(f: M^ n\to N^{\nu(n,p)+n-2}\) be a map with orientable \({\mathcal N}^ p_ f\), and \(n>4\). Let \(\rho: H^ 2(M,Z)\to H^ 2(M,Z_ 2)\) be the mod 2 reduction, \(T^ 2(M,Z)\) the torsion subgroup of \(H^ 2(M,Z)\), and \(\theta^ p_ f\) the class \(w^ p_ 2+\overline w_ 2(M)\). The main results of the note are: Theorem 1. Suppose that (i) \(n\equiv 1\pmod 4\), or that (ii) \(n\equiv 3\pmod 4\) and \(\theta^ p_ f\neq 0\), or that (iii) \(n\equiv 0\pmod 2\) and \(\theta^ p_ f\overline \in T^ 2(M,Z)\). Then \(f\) is homotopic to a \(p\)-immersion if and only if \({\mathcal W}^ p_{n-1}(f)=0\). Theorem 2. Suppose that (iv) \(n\equiv 3\pmod 4\) and \(\theta^ p_ f=0\), or that (v) \(n\equiv 0\pmod 2\) and \(\theta^ p_ f\in T^ 2(M,Z)\). If \({\mathcal W}^ p_{n-1}(f)=0\), then we can define a unique \(O^ p_ f\in H^ n(M,Z_ 2)\) such that \(f\) is homotopic to a \(p\)-immersion if and only if \(O^ p_ f=0\).