Spectral geometry: An introduction and background material for this volume (Q4366604)

Let \(M\) be a closed, \(n\)-dimensional compact manifold with a strictly positive density \(dx\), \(E\to M\) a vector bundle on \(M\) and \(P:C^\infty (E)\to C^\infty (E)\) a bounded from below elliptic pseudodifferential and symmetric operator of order \(m\) acting on the smooth sections of the bundle. The spectrum of \(P\) is discrete (since \(M\) is compact) and we denote it by \(\sigma(P) =\{\lambda_k\}^\infty_{k=0}\), where the eigenvalues \(\lambda_k\) are counted according to multiplicity and arranged in nondecreasig order: \[ \lambda_0 \leq\lambda_1 \leq\cdots \leq\lambda_k \leq\dots \hat I+ \infty, \quad \text{as } k\to \infty. \] Then we can associate to \(\sigma (P)\) the following common spectral functions: the \(\theta\)-function, the \(\eta\)-function and the \(\zeta\)-function. They have attractive analytical properties. For instance, the \(\zeta\)-function has a meromorphic extension to \(\mathbb{C}\) with simple poles at \(z_k= (n-k)/m\), \(k=0,1,2, \dots\). Further, the \(\zeta\)-function has at most polynomial growth on every half-space \(\text{Re} (z)\geq c\). Moreover, the \(\Theta\)-function depends holomorphically on \(t\) for \(\text{Re} (t) >0\). Using now the ``heat equation'' we can obtain asymptotic expansions for these spectral functions. These asymptotic expansions relate in fact the geometry and the topology of the bundle with spectral data of \(P\). Using the above technique, the authors describe some general spectral properties of smooth and fractal manifolds. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0874.00038].