Finiteness of \(\varphi \)-order of solutions of linear differential equations in the unit disc (Q2655706)

The authors study the growth of solutions of the linear differential equation \[ f^{(k)}+ A_{k-1}f^{(k-1)}+\cdots + A_0 f= 0,\tag{1} \] where \(A_0,\dots, A_{k-1}\) are analytic functions in the disc \(D= \{z:|z|< 1\}\). If \(\varphi: [0, 1)\to(0,\infty)\) is a non-decreasing unbounded function, then the \(\varphi\)-order of a meromorphic function \(f\) in the unit disc can be defined as \[ \sigma_\varphi(f):= \limsup_{r\to 1-} {\log^+ T(r, f)\over\log \varphi(r)}, \] where \(T(r,f)\) is the Nevanlinna characteristic of \(f\). Let \(0\leq\alpha< \infty\). The authors prove a criterion when all solutions \(f\) of (1) satisfy \(\sigma_\varphi(f)\leq\alpha\). This result is formulated in terms of \(\varphi\)-orders of the coefficients \(A_k(z)\). The sharpness of the theorem is illustrated in Section 3. Theorem 1 generalizes a result due to R. Korhonen and J. Rättyä.