Analytic Continuation of Resolvent Kernels on noncompact Symmetric Spaces

Let X=G/K be a symmetric space of noncompact type and let L be the Laplacian associated with a G-invariant metric on X. We show that the resolvent kernel of L admits a holomorphic extension to a Riemann surface depending on the rank of the symmetric space. This Riemann surface is a branched cover of the complex plane with a certain part of the real axis removed. It has a branching point at the bottom of the spectrum of L. It is further shown that this branching point is quadratic if the rank of X is odd, and is logarithmic otherwise. In case G has only one conjugacy class of Cartan subalgebras the resolvent kernel extends to a holomorphic function on a branched cover of the complex plane with the only branching point being the bottom of the spectrum.