On Haefliger's obstructions to embeddings and transfer maps (Q1866569)

Let \(f:M^n\to N^{n+k}\) be a continuous map between closed topological manifolds. Haefliger's result [\textit{A. Haefliger}, Am. J. Math. 83, 57--70 (1961; Zbl 0096.37901)] says that if \(f\) is homotopic to an embedding, then \(w_i=0 \) for \(i\geq k\) and \(U_M(1\times w_k(f))+(f\times f)^*U_N=0\). \(U_M\) denotes the \(\mathbb{Z}_2\)-Thom class. Furthermore, \textit{R. L. W. Brown} in [Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 48, 245--250 (1975; Zbl 0298.57015)] has proved that if \(f\) is homotopic to a differentiable embedding then \(f^*f_!=aw_k(f)\) for all \(a\in H^*(M)\). Here \(f_!\) denotes the transfer (or Umkehr) homomorphism. The authors obtain the following result: \(U_M(1\times w_k(f))+(f\times f)^*U_N=0\) if and only if \(f^*f_!=aw_k(f)\) for all \(a\in H^*(M)\). The paper contains also several corollaries and related statements.