A stability theorem for the index of sphere bundles (Q2455050)

Let \(\alpha\) be a finite-dimensional real vector bundle \(\alpha\) over a finite CW complex \(B\). The index of \(\alpha\) was defined by \textit{P. E. Conner} and \textit{E. E. Floyd} in [Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 66, 416--441 (1960; Zbl 0106.16301)] as the largest integer \(\text{ind}(\alpha)\) such that there is a \(\mathbb{Z}/2\) map from the sphere \(S^{\text{ind}(\alpha)-1}\) (with the antipodal action) to the sphere bundle \(S(\alpha)\) (defined with respect to some metric and equipped with the fiberwise antipodal action). The author shows that if \(\dim B= n\) and \(\dim \alpha\geq 2n\) then \(\text{ind}(\alpha)=\dim \alpha\). He also shows that \(\text{ind}(\alpha)= \dim \alpha\) in the following two cases: 1) \(B\) is the projective space \(FP^n\) (\(F=\mathbb{R}, \mathbb{C}, \mathbb{H}\)) and \(\dim \alpha \geq \dim FP^n+\dim_\mathbb{R}F\); 2) \(B=S^n\), with \(n\neq 1, 2, 4, 8\).