Spectral analysis and zeta determinant on the deformed spheres (Q946509)

The authors study zeta functions associated to Laplace operators on deformed spheres. By computing explicitly the spectrum of the Laplace operator in term of the deformation parameter \(k\), they are able to analyze the zeta functions and the related determinants. The main results are expansions of the determinant and the zeta invariants (zeta\((s=0)\) and its derivative at \(s=0\)) with respect to \(k\) close to 1 (when \(k=1\) the deformed sphere is the standard sphere), in the special cases of dimensions 2 and 3.