AN EXTENSION OF THE CHOWLA-SELBERG FORMULA USEFUL IN QUANTIZING WITH THE WHEELER-DEWITT EQUATION

The two-dimensional inhomogeneous zeta-function series (with homogeneous part of the most general Epstein type) SIGMA(m,n is-an-element-of Z)(am2 + bmn + cn2 + q)-s is analytically continued in the variable s using zeta-function techniques. A simple formula is obtained which extends the Chowla-Selberg formula to inhomogeneous Epstein zeta-functions. The new expression is then applied to solve the problem of computing the determinant of the basic differential operator that appears in an attempt at quantizing gravity by using the Wheeler-De Witt equation in (2 + 1)-dimensional spacetime with the torus topology.