A class of second order differential equations (Q1781942)

For a second-order differential equation of type \(f''=R(z\cdot f,f')\), where \(R\) is rational in \(z,f\) and \(f'\), a classical and yet unsolved conjecture is: If the equation has a transcendental meromorphic solution, then the equation can be transformed to the form \[ f''=N(z,f)(f')^2+M(z,f)f'+L(z,f), \] where \(L,M,N\) are variational functions in their arguments. In this paper, the equation with constant coefficients is studied, i.e., \(L=L(f)\), \(M=M(f)\) and \(N=N(f)\). The main result is: If \[ f''=N(f)f^{\prime2}+M(f)f'+L(f) \] has a transcendental meromorphic solution \(f\) with order \(p(f)>2\), then the equation must be one of the nine forms. This proves the above conjecture in a special case.