A regularized heat trace for hyperbolic Riemann surfaces of finite volume (Q1381292)

The heat kernel \(K= K(t,x,y)\) to the Laplacian of a hyperbolic Riemann surface \(M\) of finite volume is considered. If \(M\) is not compact then \(K\) is not of trace class. The authors overcome this difficulty by introducing a regularized heat trace, which coincides with the proper trace if \(M\) is compact. They restrict some summation over the isometry group to hyperbolic elements only (ignoring parabolic elements). The regularized trace and some degenerated heat trace together render control over a degenerating family of Riemann surfaces, as it is defined in the paper. The authors are able to treat uniformity of long time asymptotics of appropriate heat traces and asymptotic expansions of the Selberg zeta function and the spectral zeta function on degenerating families.