On the Gauss-Bonnet for the quasi-Dirac operators on the sphere (Q2363913)

Let \(D_{N} = \alpha D_{N}'\) (\(N = 0, \pm 1/2, \pm 1, \pm 3/2, \pm 2, \dots\)) be the quasi-Dirac operator on the sphere, which is investigated in the author's paper [J. Phys. A, Math. Theor. 42, No. 15, Article ID 155201, 10 p. (2009; Zbl 1166.58005)]. \(D_{N}'\) depends on a parameter \(\beta\). In the paper under review, the author studies the zeta function \(\zeta_{D_{N}}(s)\) of \(D_{N}\) by using the Hurwitz zeta function. By this calculation, the author computes the value of the zeta function at \(s=0\) for \(N \geq 0\): \[ \zeta_{D_{N}}(0) = 2\left(\beta - \frac{1}{2}\right)^{2} + \frac{1}{6} - 2N^{2}. \] By this formula, \(\zeta_{D_{N}}(0)\) reaches minimum for \(\beta = 1/2\). The author concentrates on the case for \(\beta = 1/2\) (and \(\alpha = 1\)) and discuss two examples of quasi-Dirac operators. First, the author remarks on an interesting coincidence that \(D_{1/2}\) determines the canonical Dirac operator on the sphere. The author also calculates the Euler characteristic for the sphere by using the relation between the values \(\zeta_{D_{1/2}}(0)\) and heat-trace coefficients of \(D_{1/2}\). Second, the author proves \(D_{0} = \sqrt{-\Delta + \frac{1}{4}}\), which is not a differential operator but its square is.