Polynomially convex embeddings and CR singularities of real manifolds

It is proved that any smooth manifold $\mathcal M$ of dimension $m$ admits a smooth polynomially convex embedding into $\mathbb C^n$ when $n\geq \lfloor 5m/4\rfloor$. Further, such embeddings are dense in the space of smooth maps from $\mathcal M$ into $\mathbb C^n$ in the $\mathcal C^3$-topology. The components of any such embedding give smooth generators of the algebra of complex-valued continuous functions on $\mathcal M$. A key ingredient of the proof is a coordinate-free description of certain notions of (non)degeneracy, as defined by Webster and Coffman, for CR-singularities of order one of an embedded real manifold in $\mathbb C^n$. The main result is obtained by inductively perturbing each stratum of degeneracy to produce a global polynomially convex embedding.