On Groebner bases and immersions of Grassmann manifolds \(G_{2,n}\) (Q643522)

It was proved by \textit{V. Oproiu} [Proc. Edinb. Math. Soc., II. Ser. 20(1976-77), 177--185 (1977; Zbl 0359.57008)], by means of the Stiefel-Whitney classes \(w_1,w_2,\ldots\) and their duals \(\bar{w}_{1},\bar{w}_{2},\ldots\), that \(\text{imm}\left(G_{2,2^{s-1}+1}\right)\geq 2^{s+1}-2\), where \(G_{k,n}\) stands for the Grasmann manifold of unoriented \(k\)-dimensional vector subspaces in \(\mathbb{R}^{n+k}\) and \(\text{imm}\left(G_{k,n}\right)\) for \(\min\{d|G_{k,n}\text{ immerses into }\mathbb{R}^d\}\). The authors of the present paper use the technique of Gröbner bases to prove some earlier inequalities by Oproiu, namely \(\text{imm}\left(G_{2,n}\right)\geq 2^{s+1}-2\) and \(\text{imm}\left(G_2,2^{s-1}\right)\geq 3\cdot 2^s-2\), whenever \(2\leq 2^{s-1}\leq n< 2^s\) and \(n\leq 2^s-2\). In this respect they identify the reduced Gröbner basis \(G=\{g_0,g_1,\ldots,g_{n+1}\}\) for the ideal \(I_{2,n}=(\bar{w}_{n+1},\bar{w}_{n+2})\) of \(\mathbb{Z}_2[w_1,w_2]\), with respect to the \(grlex\) ordering, and prove several identities involving the Stiefel-Whitney classes, the elements of the Gröbner basis and the \(S\)-polynomials of a pair of elements from \(\mathbb{Z}_2[w_1,w_2]\). Next, the authors prove several identities involving the Steenrod square homomorphisms and the Stiefel-Whitney classes which are finally used to prove the last result of the paper. It states that the Grassmann manifold \(G_{2,n}\) immerses into \(\mathbb{R}^{4n-5}\), whenever \(n\) is an odd integer \(\geq 7\). This shows in particular that \(\text{imm}\left(G_{2,2^{s-1}+1}\right)\leq 2^{s+1}-1\).