Nonexistence of homotopy equivalences which are \(C^{\infty}\) stable or of finite codimension (Q2502950)

If \(N\) and \(P\) are smooth manifolds, then \textit{J. Mather} in [Proc. Liverpool Singularities-Symp. I, Dept. Pure Math. Univ. Liverpool 1969--1970, 207--253 (1971; Zbl 0211.56105)] determined dimension conditions under which the smooth stable maps from \(N\) to \(P\) are dense in \(C^\infty (N,P)\). There are nonexistence results [see \textit{M. Golubitsky} and \textit{V. Guillemin}, Stable Mappings and their Singularities, 2nd corr. printing. New York-Heidelberg-Berlin: Springer (1980; Zbl 0434.58001), \textit{S. Izumiya} and \textit{Y. Kogo}, J. Lond. Math. Soc., II, Ser. 26, 567--576 (1982; Zbl 0472.58008), \textit{A. du Plessis}, Proc. London Math. Soc., III. Ser. 50, 114--130 (1985; Zbl 0559.58006)] that study situations in which the Mather dimension conditions are not satisfied. In this work the author shows that given two natural numbers \(k\) and \(i\) satisfying \(4i^3-2i^2\geq 4k\geq4i^2\) there exist closed oriented smooth manifolds \(N^{4k}\) and \(P^{4k}\) and a homotopy equivalence \(f:N^{4k}\to P^{4k}\) of degree 1 such that \(f\) is not homotopic to any \(C^\infty\) stable map. If in addition \(k\neq i^2\), then \(f\) is not homotopic to any map of finite codimension. The theorem is an application of results of the author's paper [Hokkaido Math. J. 2, 176--182 (1973; Zbl 0272.57020)] on the cobordism group of homotopy equivalences of degree 1 between closed oriented \(n\)-manifolds. The author raises the question of the nature of the singularities that might be used to identify what would be called the simplest of the elements of that group in dimensions outside of the Mather nice dimensions.