Value sharing of an entire function and its derivatives (Q1964216)

Let \(f,b,b_0,b_1,\dots,b_n\) be meromorphic functions in the plane and \(b,b_0, \dots, b_n\) be small with respect to \(f\), i.e. \(T(r,b), T(r,b_0), \dots, T(r,b_n)= S(r,f)\). By \(L(f)\) we denote the linear differential polynomial \(L(f):=b+ \sum^n_{j=0} b_jf^{(j)}\), \(n\geq 1\). The authors prove the following theorem: Let \(a_1\) and \(a_2\) be two distinct complex numbers. If \(f\) is an entire function and if \(f\) and \(L(f)\) share \(a_1CM\) and \(a_2IM\), then either \(f\equiv L(f)\) or \(f=a_2+ (a_1-a_2)(1-e^\alpha)^2\) and \(L(f)=2a_2-a_1+ (a_1-a_2)e^\alpha\), where \(\alpha\) is an entire function. They also generalize this result in the following way: This theorem is still true for meromorphic functions \(f\) with \(N(r,f)= S(r,f)\) and \(a_1\) and \(a_2\) are small meromorphic functions instead of complex numbers.