Spectral convergence on degenerating surfaces (Q1196394)

This paper is concerned with spectral convergence for Laplacians on Riemannian surfaces with singular metrics. Somewhat imprecisely the basic question could be stated as follows: let \(M_ 0\) be a surface with a singular metric, the singularity being essentially of cone type. Let \(M_ t\) be a compact surface with singular metric \(g_ t\), converging as \(t\) goes to zero to a cone singularity metric on \(M_ 0\). Is it then true that the corresponding spectra for the Laplacians associated with the metrics also converge (in a natural sense)? The fundamental result of the paper answers this question in the affirmative and studies in addition the analogous problem for some specific cases like the Bergman metric and Arakelov's admissible metric.