On the growth of meromorphic functions with two radially distributed values (Q1353551)

Let \(L_n(w) =w'\) if \(n=1\) and \(L_n(w) =w^{(n)} +a_{n-2} (z)w^{(n-2)}+ \cdots +a_0(z)w\) for \(n\geq 2\) where all the \(a_j(z)\)'s are rational functions. Let \(f\) be a meromorphic function in the plane and \(P\) be a non-zero polynomial. Assume for some \(n\geq 1\) that \(L_n(f) \not \equiv 0\) and \(\log \{N(r,X,1/f) +N(r,X,1/(L_n(f) -P))\}= o(\log r)\), \((r\to\infty)\), where \(N(r,D, f)\) is the counting function for the poles of \(f\) in \(D\cap \{z:|z|<r\}\) and \(X\) is the plane minus a finite number of radii emanating from the origin. If the Nevanlinna deficiency \(\delta (0,f)\) is positive, then the order of \(f\) is finite and bounded alone by a constant dependent on the placement of the radii emanating from the origin. The author proves this result and related results which extend work of \textit{A. Edrei} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 78, 276-293 (1955; Zbl 0065.06605)].