Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 November 2011
Let ξ be an oriented n-dimensional real vector bundle over an oriented closed m-manifold X. An r-field on ξ defined outside a finite subset of X has an index in the homotopy group πm−l(Vn,r) of the Stiefel manifold of r-frames in ℝn. The principal theorems of this paper relate the d and e-invariants of an associated ℝ/2-equivariant stable homotopy class, in certain cases, to computable cohomology characteristic numbers. Results of this type were first obtained by Atiyah and Dupont [5].