On a conjecture of Gackstatter and Laine on some differential equations (Q1185142)

The author studies the differential equation (*) \(P(z,w')=Q(z,w)\) in the complex plane, where \(P\) and \(Q\) are polynomials in \(w'\) resp. \(w\) of degree \(p\) and \(q\). He proves the theorem: If \(1\leq q\leq p-1\), then equation (*) does not possess admissible solutions. Nevanlinna's theory of meromorphic functions is the basis of the proof. For the binomial case \(P(z,w')=(w')^ p\) the theorem was proved recently by \textit{Y. He} and \textit{I. Laine} [Analysis 10, 387-396 (1990; Zbl 0715.34010)].