Spin structures and codimension-two homeomorphism extensions
Let $\imath: M\to \RR^{p+2}$ be a smooth embedding from a connected, oriented, closed $p$-dimesional smooth manifold to $\RR^{p+2}$, then there is a spin structure $\imath^\sharp(ς^{p+2})$ on $M$ canonically induced from the embedding. If an orientation-preserving diffeomorphism $τ$ of $M$ extends over $\imath$ as an orientation-preserving topological homeomorphism of $\RR^{p+2}$, then $τ$ preserves the induced spin structure. Let $\esg_\cat(\imath)$ be the subgroup of the $\cat$-mapping class group $\mcg_\cat(M)$ consisting of elements whose representatives extend over $\RR^{p+2}$ as orientation-preserving $\cat$-homeomorphisms, where $\cat=\topo$, $\pl$ or $\diff$. The invariance of $\imath^\sharp(ς^{p+2})$ gives nontrivial lower bounds to $[\mcg_\cat(M):\esg_\cat(\imath)]$ in various special cases. We apply this to embedded surfaces in $\RR^4$ and embedded $p$-dimensional tori in $\RR^{p+2}$. In particular, in these cases the index lower bounds for $\esg_\topo(\imath)$ are achieved for unknotted embeddings.