Ruelle Zeta Function from Field Theory

Abstract

We propose a field-theoretic interpretation of Ruelle zeta function and show how it can be seen as the partition function for BF theory when an unusual gauge-fixing condition on contact manifolds is imposed. This suggests an alternative rephrasing of a conjecture due to Fried on the equivalence between Ruelle zeta function and analytic torsion, in terms of homotopies of Lagrangian submanifolds.