Andrei A Bytsenko - Böcker

This book is the result of several years of work by the authors on different aspects of zeta functions and related topics. The aim is twofold. On one hand, a considerable number of useful formulas, essential for dealing with the different aspects of zeta-function regularization (analytic continuation, asymptotic expansions), many of which appear here, in book format, for the first time are presented. On the other hand, the authors show explicitly how to make use of such formulas and techniques in practical applications to physical problems of very different nature. Virtually all types of zeta functions are dealt with in the book.

This volume contains discussions on group representations of SL(2,R) and automorphic forms, with applications of the Selberg trace formula to the Landau spectrum for a uniform magnetic field on a Riemann surface, on particle creation in the early universe, Chern-Simons gauge theory on 3-manifolds, path integral representation of fractional spin particles, eta and zeta functions and Dirac operators, Schrödinger operators with periodic potential, elliptic genera for SUSY sigma models, quantum fields on curved space-times, black holes, and some discussions on string theory and quantum gravity.

This volume presents the following topics: non-Abelian Toda models, brief remarks for physicists on equivariant cohomology and the Duistermaat-Heckman formula, Casimir effect, quantum groups and their application to nuclear physics, quantum field theory, quantum gravity and the theory of extended objects, and black hole physics and cosmology.