A function field variant of Pillai's problem (Q1998902)

In this paper, the authors consider a variant of Pillai's problem with linearly recurrent sequences defined over function fields \(\mathbf{F}\) in one variable over \({\mathbb C}\). More precisely, for simple linear recurrences \(\{G_n\}_{n\ge 0},~\{H_m\}_{m\ge 0}\) defined over \(\mathbf{F}\) and satisfying some weak conditions, they show that for a fixed \(f\) the equation \(G_n-H_m=f\) has only finitely many solutions \((m,n)\). Furthermore, under some suitable assumptions on the above sequences, there are only finitely many \(f\)'s which have more than one such representation and they are all effectively computable. Some of the results are completely explicit. For example, if \(p,q,f\) are all polynomials in \({\mathbb C}[x]\) with \(p,q\) nonconstant and \(f\) nonzero and \(p^n-q^m=f\), then \[ \max\{m,n\}\le \frac{1+\deg(f)+\deg(g)+2\deg(f)}{\min(\deg(f),\deg(g))}. \] The proofs use a theorem of Brownawell and Masser on the height of a nondegenerate solution of an \({\mathcal S}\)-unit equation in function fields.