Derivatives of meromorphic functions of finite order (Q2255468)

Let \(f\) be a meromorphic function. The author investigates the relation between the poles of \(f\) and the zeros of \(f^{(k)}\), where \(k\) is a positive integer. The Gol'dberg conjecture says that for \(k\geq2\) the frequency of distinct poles of \(f\) is controlled by the frequency of the zeros of \(f^{(k)}\) in some sense. This conjecture was proved by \textit{K. Yamanoi} [Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 106, No. 4, 703--780 (2013; Zbl 1300.30067)], with an error term which is small compared to the Nevanlinna characteristic function. The author obtained a certain result in [Comput. Methods Funct. Theory 9, No. 2, 565--578 (2009; Zbl 1185.30027)] with the assumption \(f^{(k)}\) has finitely many zeros. Because of the error terms involved, Yamanoi's result does not imply directly the author's result in [Zbl 1185.30027]. In this paper, the author considers the above relation with the condition that all but finitely many zeros of \(f^{(k)}\) have the same image under \(f^{(k-1)}\), instead of the strong assumption that \(f^{(k)}\) has finitely many zeros. One of the main results is the following: Let \(k\geq2\) be a positive integer and let \(f\) be a meromorphic function of finite lower order in the plane with the following properties: (i) the zeros of \(f^{(k-1)}\) have bounded multiplicities; (ii) all but finitely many zeros of \(f^{(k)}\) are zeros of \(f^{(k-1)}\); (iii) there exists \(M\in(0,+\infty)\) such that if \(\zeta\) is a pole of \( f\) of multiplicity \(m_\zeta\), then \(m_\zeta\leq M+|\zeta|^M\); (iv) for each \(\varepsilon>0\), all but finitely many zeros \(z\) of \(f^{(k)}\) are such that either \(|f^{(k-2)}(z)|\leq \varepsilon|z|\) or \(\varepsilon|f^{(k-2)}(z)|\geq|z|\). Then \(f^{(k)}\) has a representation \(f^{(k)}=Re^P\) with \(R\) a rational function and \(P\) a polynomial.