  By generalizing the classical Selberg-Chowla formula, we establish the
analytic continuation and functional equation for a large class of Epstein zeta
functions. This continuation is studied in order to provide new classes of
theorems regarding the distribution of zeros of Dirichlet series in their
critical lines and to produce a new method for the study of these problems. Due
to the symmetries provided by the representation via the Selberg-Chowla
formula, some generalizations of well-known formulas in analytic number theory
are also deduced as examples.
