Knotted families from graspers (Q6564516)

Let \(C\) denote either an arc or a circle, and let \(M\) be a compact smooth manifold with boundary, of dimension \(d\geq 4\). The author is interested in the homotopy groups \(\pi_k\mathrm{Emb}_\partial(C,M)\), \(k\geq 1\), of the space of embeddings \(C\to M\) with a fixed boundary condition. For \(k<d-3\), there is an isomorphism \(\pi_k\mathrm{Emb}_\partial(C,M)\cong \pi_k\mathrm{Imm}(C,M)\). Thus \(\pi_{d-3}\) is the lowest homotopy group that can distinguish embeddings from immersions.\N\NLet \[ \cdots \to T_{n+1}(C,M)\to T_n(C,M)\to\cdots \] be the Taylor tower of Goodwillie and Weiss with maps \[ \mathrm{ev}_n: \mathrm{Emb}_\partial(C,M)\to T_n(C,M),\quad n\geq 1. \] On the relative homotopy groups, there are induced maps \[ \mathrm{ev}^{\mathrm{rel}}_{n+1}: \pi_k\bigl( T_n(C,M), \mathrm{Emb}_\partial(C,M)\bigr)\to \pi_k\bigl( T_n(C,M), T_{n+1}(C,M)\bigr). \] Here the latter group is trivial for \(1\leq k\leq n(d-3)\), and there is an isomorphism \[ \pi_{n(d-3)+1}\bigl(T_n(C,M), T_{n+1}(C,M)\bigr)\stackrel{\cong}\to \mathrm{Lie}_{\pi_1M}(n). \] The main result of the paper says that for any \(n\geq 1\), there is an explicit homomorphism \[ r_n: \mathrm{Lie}_{\pi_1 M}(n)\to \pi_{n(d-3)+1}\bigl(T_n(C,M), \mathrm{Emb}_\partial(C,M)\bigr) \] of abelian groups, given by `grasper surgery of degree \(n\)' such that \[ \mathrm{ev}^{\mathrm{rel}}_{n+1}\circ r_n=\mathrm{id}_{ \mathrm{Lie}_{\pi_1 M}(n) }. \] Grasper surgery is a surgery that generalises the Gusarov-Habiro clasper surgery to all embedding spaces with \(1\)-dimensional source.\N\NThe author believes that, in fact, all classes in homotopy groups of \(\mathrm{Emb}_\partial(C,M)\) can be obtained by analogues of grasper surgery, and she plans to pursue this in future work. The paper also contains a list of open questions.