Decidability of the extension problem for maps into odd-dimensional spheres

Abstract

In a recent paper, it was shown that the problem of existence of a continuous map $X \to Y$ extending a given map $A \to Y$ defined on a subspace $A \subseteq X$ is undecidable, even for $Y$ an even-dimensional sphere. In the present paper, we prove that the same problem for $Y$ an odd-dimensional sphere is decidable. More generally, the same holds for any $d$-connected target space $Y$ whose homotopy groups $\pi_k Y$ are finite for $k>2d$.