Spherical classes in some finite loop spaces of spheres (Q526877)

The paper under review investigates spherical classes in \(QS^n\), that is, elements belonging to the image of the unstable (2-primary) Hurewicz homomorphism \[ \pi_i(QS^k) \to H_i(QS^k). \] A conjecture due to \textit{E. B. Curtis} [Ill. J. Math. 19, 231--246 (1975; Zbl 0311.55007)] states that the only spherical classes when \(k=0\) and \(i>0\) are the Hopf invariant one, and Kervaire invariant one, classes. For a general path connected CW-complex \(X\) with finitely generated homology, Eccles has conjectured that a class in \(H_i(QX)\) is spherical if it is stably spherical (i.e, survives under the map \(H_*QX \to H_*X\) induced by the natural map \(\Sigma^{\infty}QX \to \Sigma^{\infty}X\)), or it arises from a stable map \(S^i \to X\) which is detected by a primary operation in its mapping cone. The paper investigates Eccles' conjecture via explicit computation of spherical classes, providing positive evidence that the conjecture is true. The main results are as follows. A complete determination of the spherical classes in single, double, and triple loop spaces of spheres is provided. When \(\ell \geq 4\) and \(n>1\), an upper bound on the maximum dimension such that a spherical class can occur in \(H_*\Omega^{\ell}S^{l+n}\) is found. Finally, a table of possible spherical classes in \(H_*\Omega^{\ell}S^{l+n}\) is given for \(3 \leq \ell \leq 9\).