Proofs of two conjectures of Gray involving the double suspension (Q4806447)

In his work on the iterated suspension [Topology 27, 301--310 (1988; Zbl 0668.55005)], \textit{B. Gray} constructed fibration sequences \[ W_n \to S^{2n-1} \overset{E^2}\longrightarrow \Omega^2 (S^{2n+1}) \overset{f}\longrightarrow BW_n \] and \[ BW_n \overset{g}\longrightarrow \Omega^2 (S^{2np+1})\overset{\phi}\longrightarrow S^{2np-1}. \] \textit{J. R. Harper} [Contemp. Math. 96, 189--195 (1989; Zbl 0683.55009)] showed that, when \(p\geq 5\), there is a homotopy commutative square \[ \begin{tikzcd} \Omega (\Omega^2 (S^{2np+1})) \ar[r,"\Omega(\phi)"]\ar[d,"p" '] & \Omega (S^{2np-1})\ar[d,"\Omega(E^2)"] \\ \Omega (\Omega^2 (S^{2np+1})) \ar[r,"\Omega (\text{id})" '] & \Omega (\Omega^2(S^{2np+1}))\rlap{\,,} \end{tikzcd} \] and Gray conjectured that the extra loop could be removed. The first main result of this paper verifies this conjecture, subject to the proviso that the map \(\phi\) may need to be replaced by another map \(\phi'\) which also satisfies the basic properties of the already mentioned map \(\phi\). The restriction \(p\geq 5\) is necessary to ensure that the maps \(f\) and \(g\) are multiplicative. The second conjecture of Gray concerns the homotopy pullback square I in the diagram below \[ \begin{tikzcd} W_n \ar[r]\ar[d,equal] & S^{2n-1} \ar[r]\ar[d] & \Omega^2 S^{2n+1}\ar[r,"f"]\ar[d] & BW_n \ar[d, dashed] \\ W_n \ar[r] & T^{2n-1}\ar[r] & \Omega S^{2n+1}\{ p\}\ar[r, dashed] & BW_n\rlap{\,.} \end{tikzcd} \] Here \(T^{2n-1}\) is a space constructed by \textit{D. Anick} [Differential algebras in topology, Research Notes in Mathematics (Boston, Mass.), AK Peters (1993; Zbl 0770.55001)], and \(S^{2n+1}\{ p\}\) is the fiber of the degree \(p\) map \(p:S^{2n+1}\to S^{2n+1}\). The conjecture is that the dashed arrows can be filled in so that the diagram commutes and the bottom row is a fibration sequence. The second main result of the paper verifies this conjecture.