The analytic torsion of the finite metric cone over a compact manifold (Q520643)

In previous work [St. Petersbg. Math. J. 27, No. 1, 137--154 (2016; Zbl 1338.58022)], the authors computed analytic torsion for a cone over an odd-dimensional Riemannian manifold. Comparing their formula with that obtained for the intersection torsion of \textit{A. Dar} [Math. Z. 194, 193--216 (1987; Zbl 0605.57012)] they proved that both are equal. When the basis for the cone is even-dimensional the spectral analysis gets more complicated. In this paper the authors give the computation of analytic torsion in this case (in terms of spectral invariants of the basis and geometry of the cone), but not the equality with intersection torsion, and as they note the precise definition of the latter is not yet clear in this context. The formula for a cone over a manifold \(W\) looks like \[ T = \chi(W)\log(2)/2 + C_1 + C_2 + A \] where \(C_1\) is an explicit combinatorial term, \(C_2\) depends on the spectrum of the Laplace operator on \(W\) (in a more straightforward way than the analytic torsion \(T(W)\) in the case \(W\) is odd-dimensional) and \(A\) is a ``boundary anomaly term'' which appears already in the extensions of the Cheeger-Müller theorem to manifolds with boundary [\textit{J. Brüning} and \textit{X. Ma}, Geom. Funct. Anal. 16, No. 4, 767--837 (2006; Zbl 1111.58024)], and depends only on the geometry of the warped product near the boundary. Another difference with the odd-dimensional case is that to get a self-adjoint extension of the Laplacian on middle-degree forms one needs to add ``ideal boundary conditions'' at the cone vertex, which appeared in \textit{J. Cheeger}'s early work on spectral analysis of singular spaces [J. Differ. Geom. 18, 575--657 (1983; Zbl 0529.58034)].