Local maxima of the spherical derivative (Q1192234)

The author studies meromorphic functions and properties of the spherical derivative \(f^ \#\) and the Schwarzian derivative \(\sigma(f)\). Let \(M(f)\) be the set of points where \(f^ \#\) has local maxima, then the components of \(M(f)\) are at most countable and at each \(z\in M(f)\) there is \(|\sigma(f)(z)|\leqq 2f^ \#(z)^ 2\). The components of \(M(f)\) are studied in detail. At the end of the paper a partial differential equation with an exponential nonlinearity is considered in connection with the spherical derivative.