Heat-kernels and functional determinants on the generalized cone (Q679381)

The authors study the heat kernel expansion coefficients and functional determinants for manifolds with boundary. The manifold in question is a bounded generalized cone; the bounding manifold need not be totally geodesic. They study the modified Laplacian \(\Delta-\xi R\) acting on scalars using both Dirichlet and generalized Neumann (or Robin) boundary conditions; their methods are applicable to more general operators. They derive some new results concerning the \(a_5\) coefficient and study the functional determinants in some detail. Their paper contains two appendices giving the heat kernel polynomials for the monopole with Dirichlet boundary conditions and with Robin boundary conditions.