Solutions rationnelles de certaines équations fonctionnelles. (Rational solutions of certain functional equations) (Q1112859)

The core of this note is a study of those transformations \[ y\quad \mapsto \quad U(y)(x)=\sum^{s}_{i=1}R_ i(x)y(\frac{a_ ix}{1+b_ ix}) \] with the \(R_ i\) rational functions, for which the rationality of the function U (say, that it be an element of \({\mathbb{Q}}(x))\) and some suitable a priori restriction on y (say, that it have integer coefficients) entails the rationality of the series y. The author shows, in effect, that it suffices for the complex constants \(a_ i\) and \(b_ i\) to be such that the intersection of the subsets of \({\mathbb{C}}\) containing the origin and stable under all the maps \(x\mapsto a_ ix+b_ i\) has transfinite diameter strictly smaller than 1; a special case is if for all i one has \(| a_ i| +| b_ i| <1\). Though somewhat disguised, the underlying problem here is a generalization of the matter of the Hadamard quotient of rational functions: if both \(\sum c_ hX^ h\) and \(\sum b_ hX^ h\) represent rational functions and the series \(\sum (c_ h/b_ h)X^ h\) could `possibly' represent a rational function (for example, if all the quotients \(a_ h=(c_ h/b_ h)\) are rational integers) then \(\sum a_ hX^ h\) does indeed represent a rational function. This matter is now completely settled in the affirmative; see the reviewer's paper [C.R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Sér. I 306, No.3, 97-102 (1988; Zbl 0635.10007)]. It would be interesting to understand this result in a wider setting. An appropriate viewpoint is hinted at in the present paper; the point of difficulty remaining being the boundary situation when the transfinite diameter is 1. It may be that \textit{R. S. Rumely}'s very general ``Capacity theory on algebraic curves'' (to appear in the Springer Lecture Notes) has a rôle to play in this context.