Heat invariants ($\mathrm{Tr}{e}^{-t\Delta }\sim (4\pi t{)}^{-d/2}{\sum }_{j\ge 0}{a}_j{t}^j$)

For the positive scalar Laplace-Beltrami operator on a compact manifold without boundary, the heat invariants are the integrated coefficients $a_j={\int }_M{u}_j(x,x)d{V}_g$ in the short-time heat kernel expansion. In particular $a_0=\mathrm{Vol}(M)$ and $a_1=\frac{1}{6}{\int }_M{R}_{g}d{V}_g$, with $R_g$ the scalar curvature. They are determined by the heat trace, hence by the spectrum with multiplicities. The leading positive coefficient recovers the dimension from ${\lim }_{t\downarrow 0}\log \mathrm{Tr}(e^{-t\Delta })/\log (1/t)=d/2$.

For the positive scalar Laplace-Beltrami operator on a closed manifold with a Riemannian metric, the coefficient of $t^2$ in the normalized heat trace is the displayed integral. The local coefficient additionally has a scalar-curvature divergence term whose integral vanishes. In dimension two, $R=2K$, $|\mathrm{Ric}{|}^2=2K^2$, $|\mathrm{Rm}{|}^2=4K^2$, giving $a_2=\frac{1}{15}{\int }_M{K}^{2}dA$. Together with volume and total Gaussian curvature, it determines the variance of curvature and detects constant curvature.

On a closed two-dimensional Riemannian manifold, the first three integrated scalar heat invariants are $A$, $\frac{1}{3}\int KdA$, and $\frac{1}{15}\int K^{2}dA$, where $K$ is Gaussian curvature. If its scalar spectrum agrees with that of a hyperbolic surface of area $A$, these integrals are $A,-A/3,A/15$. Expanding the displayed square then forces $K=-1$ everywhere. Thus constant negative curvature is spectrally determined in this setting, although the global hyperbolic metric need not be determined up to isometry.