An infinitesimal trace formula for the Laplace operator on compact Riemann surfaces (Q1422172)

It is well-known that a compact Riemann surface of genus at least 2 has a unique hyperbolic metric and lies in a moduli space of positive dimension, and hence admits nontrivial deformations. A natural problem is to understand the behaviors of the eigenvalues of the surface under deformation. The main result of this paper is an infinitesimal form of the Selberg trace formula under the deformation of the surface, which relates variations of the eigenvalues to variations of the lengths of closed geodesics. The idea is to take the derivative of the Selberg trace formula. The crucial ingredient is a deformation formula for the length of geodesics obtained by \textit{S. Wolpert} [Comment. Math. Helv. 56, 132--135 (1981; Zbl 0467.30036)].