A deformation approach to the BFK formula

Abstract Understanding how spectral quantities localize on manifolds is a central theme in geometric spectral theory and index theory. Within this framework, the BFK formula, obtained by Burghelea, Friedlander, and Kappeler in 1992, describes how the zeta-regularized determinant of an elliptic operator decomposes as the underlying manifold is cut into pieces. In this article, we present a novel proof of this result. Inspired by the work of Brüning and Lesch on the eta invariant of Dirac operators, we derive the BFK formula by interpolating continuously between boundary conditions and understanding the variation of the determinant along this deformation.