The spectral $\zeta$-function for quasi-regular Sturm--Liouville operators

In this work we analyze the spectral $\zeta$-function associated with the self-adjoint extensions, $T_{A,B}$, of quasi-regular Sturm--Liouville operators that are bounded from below. By utilizing the Green's function formalism, we find the characteristic function which implicitly provides the eigenvalues associated with a given self-adjoint extension $T_{A,B}$. The characteristic function is then employed to construct a contour integral representation for the spectral $\zeta$-function of $T_{A,B}$. By assuming a general form for the asymptotic expansion of the characteristic function, we describe the analytic continuation of the $\zeta$-function to a larger region of the complex plane. We also present a method for computing the value of the spectral $\zeta$-function of $T_{A,B}$ at all positive integers. We provide two examples to illustrate the methods developed in the paper: the generalized Bessel and Legendre operators. We show that in the case of the generalized Bessel operator, the spectral $\zeta$-function develops a branch point at the origin, while in the case of the Legendre operator it presents, more remarkably, branch points at every nonpositive integer value of $s$.