On the index theorem for \(p\)-adic differential equations. I (Q1337593)

This important article obtains two goals. Firstly, the authors provide a definition of the set of exponents on a disk \(D(0,r^-)\) of a differential operator \(L\) in \(\mathbb{C}_p [x,d/dx]\). Their method involves a step by step construction: the factorization theorem of \textit{B. Dwork} and \textit{Ph. Robba} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 231, 1-46 (1977; Zbl 0375.34010)] enables them to reduce to the case of ``fuchsian'' operators on an annulus; they then sketch a proof of the crucial fact that such operators admit a Jordan-Hölder filtration with rank one quotients, on which the ``exponents'' can be read off. Each of these reductions is analytic (on suitable annuli), rather than formal, and this raises the interesting question whether the exponents are algebraic when \(L\) is defined over \(\mathbb{Q}\). However, exponents are just a tool for the second (and main) goal of the paper, viz. an extension to operators of arbitrary rank of the index theorems of Robba [cf. the book by \textit{Ph. Robba} and \textit{G. Christol}, Equations différentielles \(p\)-adiques (Hermann, Paris, 1994)]. The authors achieve this programme precisely under the hypothesis that the exponents of \(L\) are non-Liouville numbers. The article ends with applications to \(p\)-adic analogues of the irregularity formulae of Malgrange and of Deligne [cf. \textit{Z. Mebkhout}, Astérisque 130, 365-417 (1985; Zbl 0592.32009)].