On the image of the unstable Boardman map

Abstract

We consider the `unstable Boardman map' (homomorphism if $k>0$) $$b:\pi^{m+k}\Sigma^k\Omega^lS^{n+l}\simeq[\Omega^lS^{n+l},\Omega^kS^{m+k}]\longrightarrow \mathrm{Hom}(H_*\Omega^lS^{n+l},H_*\Omega^kS^{m+k})$$ defined by $h(f)=f_*$. We work at the prime $2$, with $k=0$, and determine the image for various in the following cases : (1) $m=n$ and $l>0$ arbitrary; (2) $m>n$ and $l=1$. We observe that in most of the cases the image is trivial with the exceptions corresponding to the cases when either there is a (commutative) $H$-space structure on $S^n$ or there is a Hopf invariant one element.