Gelfand-Yaglom formula for functional determinants in higher dimensions

Abstract: The Gelfand-Yaglom formula relates functional determinants of the one-dimensional second order differential operators to the solutions of the corresponding initial value problem. In this work we generalise the Gelfand-Yaglom method by considering discrete and continuum partial second order differential operators in higher dimensions. To illustrate our main result we apply the generalised formula to the two-dimensional massive and massless discrete Laplace operators and calculate asymptotic expressions for their determinants.