Arithmetic expressions of Selberg's zeta functions for congruence subgroups (Q1005552)

The main result of the paper is an explicit expression of the logarithmic derivative of Selberg zeta functions for congruence subgroups in terms of class numbers and fundamental units. The main theorem can be formulated as follows. Let \(N>1\) be an integer, \(\Gamma\) be any of the groups \(\Gamma_{0}(N),\) \(\Gamma_{1}(N)\) or \(\Gamma(N)\) and \(Z_{\Gamma}(s)\) be the corresponding Selberg zeta-function. Then \[ \frac{Z_{\Gamma}'(s)}{Z_{\Gamma}(s)} =\sum_{d\in\mathfrak{D}}\sum_{j=1}^{\infty}M_{\Gamma}(d,j)h(d)\frac{2\log\varepsilon(d)}{1-\varepsilon(d)^{-2j}}\varepsilon(d)^{-2js} \] where \(\mathfrak{D}=\{ d>0\mid d\equiv 0,1\bmod 4\}\), \(h(d)\) is the (narrow) class number of the discriminant \(d\) and \(\varepsilon(d)\) is the corresponding fundamental unit. The numbers \(M_{\Gamma}(d,j)\) are constants which are explicitly given. The key point of the proof is the formula \[ Z_{\Gamma}(s)=Z_{\text{SL}_{2}(\mathbb{Z})}(s;\text{Ind}_{\Gamma}^{\text{SL}_{2}(\mathbb{Z})}) \] expressing \(Z_{\Gamma}(s)\) in terms of the Selberg zeta-function for the modular group \(\text{SL}_{2}(\mathbb{Z})\) together with the representation \(\text{Ind}_{\Gamma}^{\text{SL}_{2}(\mathbb{Z})}\) of \(\text{SL}_{2}(\mathbb{Z})\) induced by the trivial representation of \(\Gamma\). Using the results of \textit{P. Sarnak} [J. Number Theory 15, 229--247 (1982; Zbl 0499.10021)] for the group \(\text{SL}_{2}(\mathbb{Z})\) the problem is essentially reduced to computing the trace of this induced representation. As corollaries of the main theorem, the author demonstrates some results related to the distribution of prime geodesics as well as the distribution of class numbers.