On the homotopy invariance of configuration spaces (Q1880653)

The authors study the ordered configuration space \(F(M,k)\) for a closed PL manifold \(M\), where \(F(M,k)\) is defined by \(F(M,k)=\{(x_1,\cdots ,x_k)\in M^k:x_i\not= x_j\text{ if }i\not=j\}\). It is known that the homotopy type of \(\Omega F(M,k)\) depends only on the homotopy type of \(M\) [\textit{N. Levitt}, Topology 34, No. 1, 217--230 (1995; Zbl 0845.57021)], and it was believed that the same holds for the homotopy type of \(F(M,k)\). Recently, R. Longoni and P. Salvatore found a counter-example. However, in this paper, the authors show that there is a homotopy equivalence \(\Sigma^{\alpha (k,d,r)}F(M,k)\simeq \Sigma^{\alpha (k,d,r)}F(N,k)\) if \(M\) and \(N\) are homotopy equivalent \(r\)-connected closed PL manifolds of dimension \(d\), where \(\alpha (k,d,r):=\max (0,(k-2)d-r+3)\). In particular, they obtain that the above problem is affirmative in the stable homotopy category. To prove their main result, they use Poincaré embedding theory and fiberwise homotopy theory.