A proof of a trace formula by Richard Melrose

Abstract

Abstract The goal of this article is to give a new proof of the wave trace formula proved by Richard Melrose in an impressive article. This trace formula is an extension of the Chazarain-Duistermaat-Guillemin trace formula (denoted as “CDG trace formula” in this article) to the case of a sub-Riemannian Laplacian on a 3D contact closed manifold. The proof uses a normal form constructed in previous papers, following the pioneering work of Melrose to reduce the case of the invariant Laplacian on the 3D-Heisenberg group. We need also the propagation of singularities results of the works of Ivrii, Lascar, and Melrose.