A Cheeger-Müller theorem for manifolds with wedge singularities (Q2152575)

The authors study the spectrum and heat kernel of the Hodge Laplacian with coefficients in a flat bundle on a closed manifold degenerating to a manifold with wedge singularities. Provided the Hodge Laplacians in the fibers of the wedge have an appropriate spectral gap, the authors give uniform constructions of the resolvent and heat kernel on suitable manifolds with corners. When the wedge manifold and the base of the wedge are odd-dimensional, this is used to obtain a Cheeger-Mueller theorem relating analytic torsion with the Reidemeister torsion of the natural compactification by a manifold with boundary.