No label defined (Q4699362)

This paper concerns a fractal string which is a bounded open subset of \(\mathbb{R}\). Such a set is a union of an infinite number of disjoint intervals of lengths \(\mathcal{L}=\{\ell_{j}\}_{j\geq 1}.\) The geometric zeta function \(\zeta _{\mathcal{L}}(s)\) is the sum of \(\ell_{j}^{s}.\) The spectral zeta function of \(\mathcal{L}\) is the product of \(\zeta _{\mathcal{L}}(s)\) with the Riemann zeta function. Examples coming from the Cantor set and the Fibonacci numbers are given in which the geometric zeta function is a rational function of \(3^{-s}\) or \(2^{-s},\) respectively. The Riemann hypothesis was formulated in terms of an inverse spectral problem for fractal strings in [\textit{M. L. Lapidus} and \textit{H. Maier}, J. Lond. Math. Soc., II. Ser. 52, 15-34 (1995; Zbl 0836.11031)]. Here a reformulation for `generalized Cantor strings' is presented and it is shown that a large class of zeta functions (including Epstein and Dedekind zeta functions) cannot have an infinite sequence of zeros forming a vertical arithmetic progression. For the Riemann zeta function this was proved by \textit{C. R. Putnam} [Am. J. Math. 76, 97-99 (1954; Zbl 0055.06904)]. The proofs require explicit formulas in the sense of analytic number theory for generalized fractal strings. The authors promise to expand upon the paper under review in the monograph titled \textit{Fractal Geometry and Number Theory}, Birkhäuser, Boston (2000; Zbl 0981.28005). For the entire collection see [Zbl 0922.00026].