Order of the canonical vector bundle over configuration spaces of projective spaces (Q1687132)

Let \(\xi\) be a vector bundle and let \(\xi^{\oplus n}=\xi\oplus\cdots\oplus\xi\) (\(n\)-times) denote its \(n\)-fold Whitney sum. Then the order of \(\xi\) is the minimal positive integer \(n\) such that \(\xi^{\oplus n}\) is trivial. For an integer \(k\geq 1\) and a connected space \(X\), let \(F(X,k)\) denote the ordered configuration space of \(k\) distinct points of \(X\) given by \(F(X,k)=\{(x_1,\ldots ,k)\in X^k:x_i\neq x_j\text{ if }i\neq j\}\). The symmetric group \(\Sigma_k\) on \(k\) letters acts on \(F(X,k)\) freely by the usual coordinate permutation and let \(C_k(X)\) denote the unordered configuration space of \(k\) distinct points of \(X\) given by the orbit \(C_k(X)=F(X,k)/\Sigma_k\). Let \(\xi_{X,k}\) denote the associated real vector bundle of rank \(k\) given by \[ \xi_{X,k}:\mathbb{R}^k\to F(X,k)\times_{\Sigma_k}\mathbb{R}^k\to F(X,k)/\Sigma_k=C_k(X). \] For a positive integer \(t\), let \(\rho (t)\) denote the number of positive integers \(m\leq t\) such that \(m\equiv 0,1,2,4\pmod 8\), and let \(N(t)=\min \{m\geq 1:\mathbb{R}P^t\text{ can be embedded into }\mathbb{R}^m\}.\) In this paper, the author studies the order of the vector bundle \(\xi_{X,k}\) for \(X=\mathbb{R}P^m\) and \(X=\mathbb{R}P^m\times\mathbb{R}^n\). For \(X=\mathbb{R}P^m\), he proves that the order of \(\xi_{\mathbb{R}P^m,k}\) is divisible by \(a_{m,k}=2^{\rho (m-1)} \prod_{3\leq p\leq k,p\text{ prime }}p^{\lfloor\frac{m-1}{2}\rfloor}\) and divides \(2^{\rho (m-1)}\prod_{3\leq p\leq k,p\text{ prime }} p^{\lfloor\frac{m}{2}\rfloor}.\) Moreover, if \(m=2\) or \((m,k)=4,2)\) or \((m,k)=(8,2)\), he also shows that the order of \(\xi_{\mathbb{R}P^m,k}\) is divisible by \(2a_{m,k}\). Furthermore, for \(X=\mathbb{R}P^m\times\mathbb{R}^n\) with \(m\equiv 0\pmod 2\) and \(n\equiv 1\pmod 2\), he proves that the order of \(\xi_{\mathbb{R}P^m\times\mathbb{R}^n,k}\) is divisible by \(2a_{m+n,k}\) and divides \(2^{\rho (N(m)+n-1)}\prod_{3\leq p\leq k,p\text{ prime }}p^{\lfloor \frac{m+n-1}{2}\rfloor}.\) The proof is based on stable splittings of labelled configuration spaces and the computation of configuration spaces of real projective spaces.