Stable extendibility of \(m\tau_n\) over real projective spaces (Q2493358)

Let \(\mathbb RP^n\) denote the \(n\)-dimensional real projective space and \(\zeta\) a \(t\)-dimensional real vector bundle over \(\mathbb RP^n\). Then \(\zeta\) is said to be stably extendible to \(\mathbb RP^m\) \((m \geq n)\), if there is a \(t\)-dimensional real vector bundle over \(\mathbb RP^m\) whose restriction to \(\mathbb RP^n\) is stably equivalent to \(\zeta\). Define the integer \(s(\zeta)\) to be the maximum of integers \(m\) such that \(\zeta\) is stably extendible to \(\mathbb RP^m\). In particular, \(s(\zeta)=\infty\) if \(\zeta\) is stably extendible to \(\mathbb RP^m\) for every \(m \geq n\). \textit{T. Kobayashi, H. Maki} and \textit{T. Yoshida} [Hiroshima Math. J. 29, 631--638 (1999; Zbl 0946.55010)] proved that \(s(\tau_n)=\infty\) if \(n\)=1, 3 or 7; and \(s(\tau_n)=n\) if \(n\neq 1, 3, 7\), where \(\tau_n\) denotes the tangent bundle of \(\mathbb RP^n\). This paper deals with the case \(m\tau_n\) \((m \geq 2)\) where \(m\tau_n\) denotes the Whitney sum of \(m\)-copies of \(\tau_n\). Indeed the author determines the values of \(s(m\tau_n)\) for \(2 \leq m \leq 10\). The results (Theorems 2--10) are for instance: (1) \(s(2\tau_n)=\infty\) if \(1 \leq n \leq 8\); \(s(2\tau_n)=2n+1\) if \(n \geq 9\). (2) \(s(6\tau_n)=\infty\) if \(1 \leq n \leq 11\); \(s(6\tau_n)=6n+1\) if \(n \geq 12\) and \(n \equiv 0, 1 \mod 4\); \(s(6\tau_n)=6n+3\) if \(n \geq 12\) and \(n \equiv 2 \mod 4\); \(s(6\tau_n)=6n+5\) if \(n \geq 12\) and \(n \equiv 3 \mod 4\). The proof is done in two groups (of Theorems 2-9 and Theorem 10.) (It is noted that the proofs of Theorems 2-5 and 7-9 are variants of the proof of Theorem 6). The principal tools used are investigations of methods for calculating \text{Span \(\zeta\)} and inequalities for estimating \(s(\zeta)\) derived from them.