Uniform sheaves and differential equations (Q1947827)

Given a linear differential equation \(Ly=0\), with meromorphic coefficients, there are two main approaches to study its singularities [\textit{M. van der Put} and \textit{M. F. Singer}, Galois theory of linear differential equations. Berlin: Springer (2003; Zbl 1036.12008)]. One is algebraic and it is based on the consideration of an open disk \(D\), where the coefficients are analytic (except for maybe a pole at the origin): considering the coefficients of \(L\) as formal power series, after ramification, \(L\) factors as a product of differential operators of order one. The other is topological, restricting to the punctured disk \(D^*\), the coefficients of \(L\) are considered as analytic functions outside the origin and \(L\) is controlled by the local monodromy. The paper under review highlights on the need of establishing a bridge between the two approaches, based on the theory of asymptotic expansions, which requires some kind of ``zoom'' on the singularity. The real blow-up and other techniques from sheaf theory do not change the topology, but they change the uniform structure. The theory of meromorphic differential equations is revisited in this paper, with the help of a suitable notion of uniform sheaf, based on the uniformity rather than in the topology. The \(p\)-adic situation is also investigated from this point of view.