Consistent systems of linear differential and difference equations (Q2327702)

The paper is focused on the systems of linear differential and difference equations \[ \delta Y(x)=A(x)Y(x),\quad \sigma Y(x)=B(x)Y(x),\tag{1} \] where \(\delta=\frac{d}{dx}\), \(\sigma\) is the shift operator \(\sigma(x)=x+a\) or the \(q\)-dilation operator \(\sigma(x)=qx\) or the Mahler operator \(\sigma(x)=x^p\), and the matrices \(A(x)\in {{gl}}_n(C(x))\) and \(B(x)\in \mathrm{GL}_n(C(x))\) satisfy the condition \(\delta(B)=\mu \sigma(A)B-B(A)\), with \(C\) an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero. The authors also consider the systems of linear difference equations \[ \sigma_1Y(x)=A(x)Y(x),\quad \sigma_2Y(x)=B(x)Y(x),\tag{2} \] where \((\sigma_1,\sigma_2)\) is an independent pair of shift operators, or of \(q\)-dilation operators or of Mahler operators, and \(A,B\in \mathrm{GL}_n(C(x))\). They prove that the systems (1) and (2) can be reduced to systems of a very simple form, and then they characterize functions which satisfy two linear scalar differential or difference equations with respect to these operators. Some applications of the obtained results in the theory of automatic sets and in Galois theory of difference equations are also presented.