The Ruelle zeta function at zero for nearly hyperbolic 3-manifolds (Q2144534)

The authors study a generic conformal metric perturbation of a compact \(3\)-manifold \(\Sigma\) with Betti number \(b_1\). The order of vanishing of the Ruelle zeta function at zero equals \(4 - b_1\) but it is \(4 - 2b_1\) in the hyperbolic case. Note that this property is quite different from a surface case, where the order of vanishing is a topological invariant. Let \((\Sigma, g)\) be a compact connected orientable Riemann \(3\)-manifold which has a negative sectional curvature. The Ruelle zeta function is a converging product for \(\hbox{Im}\ \lambda\) large enough and continues meromorphically to \(\lambda \in \mathbb C\) as proved by \textit{P. Giulietti} et al. [Ann. Math. (2) 178, No. 2, 687--773 (2013; Zbl 1418.37042)] and \textit{S. Dyatlov} and \textit{M. Zworski} [Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 49, No. 3, 543--577 (2016; Zbl 1369.37028)]. More specifically, it is defined by \(\zeta_R(\lambda)\) \(=\) \(\Pi_{\gamma}(1 - e^{i \lambda T_{\gamma}})\), where the product is taken over all primitive closed geodesics \(\gamma\) on \((\Sigma, g)\) and \(T_\gamma\) is the length of \(\gamma\). The function is named after the mathematical physicist David Ruelle, and a related interesting article is [\textit{D. Ruelle}, Notices Am. Math. Soc. 49, No. 8, 887--895 (2002; Zbl 1126.37305)]. In this article, the authors investigate the order of vanishing of \(\zeta_R\) at \(\lambda = 0\) defined as the unique integer \(m_R(0)\) such that \(\lambda^{-m_R(0)}\zeta_R(\lambda)\) is holomorphic and nonzero at \(0\). Theorem. Let \((\Sigma, g_H)\) be a compact connected orientable hyperbolic \(3\)-manifold and \(b_1(\Sigma)\) be the first Betti number of \(\Sigma\). Then, \begin{itemize} \item[(1)] For \((\Sigma, g_H)\), we have \(m_R(0)\) \(=\) \(4 - 2b_1(\Sigma)\); \item[(2)] There is an open dense set \(\mathcal O\) \(\subseteq\) \(C^{\infty}(\Sigma; \mathbb R)\) such that for any \(\mathbf{b} \in \mathcal O\), we can find \(\epsilon > 0\) such that for any \(\tau \in (-\epsilon, \epsilon) \backslash \{ 0 \}\) and \(g_{\tau}\) \(:=\) \(e^{-2 \tau \mathbf{b}} g_H\), the manifold \((\Sigma, g_\tau)\) has \(m_R(0)\) \(=\) \(4 - b_1(\Sigma)\). \end{itemize} Let us note that the first statement of this theorem was proved by \textit{D. Fried} in [Invent. Math. 84, 523--540 (1986; Zbl 0621.53035), Theorem 3]. The proof uses Selberg's trace formula. A more impressive result is the second statement. For generic conformal perturbations of the hyperbolic metric, the order of vanishing of \(\zeta_R\) is \(4 - b_1(\Sigma)\). In particular, if \(b_1(\Sigma) > 0\), then \(m_R(0)\) is not topologically invariant. This theorem is the first result on instability of the order of vanishing of \(\zeta_R\) at \(0\) for Riemannian metrices. This is quite opposite to the \(2\)-manifold case considered by \textit{S. Dyatlov} and \textit{M. Zworski} [Invent. Math. 210, No. 1, 211--229 (2017; Zbl 1382.58022)], who proved that \(m_R(0) = b_1(F) - 2\) for \textit{any} orientable closed connected negatively curved surface \((F,g)\).