Entire functions sharing polynomials with their first derivatives (Q2390924)

Let \(f(z)\) be an entire function. The main result in this paper is following: Let \(Q_1(z)\not\equiv 0\) and \(Q_2(z)\) be two distinct polynomials. Assume that \(f(z)\) is transcendental. If \(f(z)-Q_1(z)\) and \(f'(z)-Q_1(z)\) have the same zeros with the same multiplicities, and if \(f'(z)-Q_2(z)=0\) whenever \(f(z)-Q_2 (z)=0\), then one of the following cases occur \(f'\equiv f\) or \(f=Q_2+Ae^{\lambda z}\) with \((\lambda-1) Q_1=\lambda Q_2-Q_2'\), where \(A\) and \(\lambda\neq 1\) are two nonzero constants. This result is a generalization of the results in [\textit{E. Mues} and \textit{N. Steinmetz}, Manuscr. Math. 29, 195--206 (1979; Zbl 0416.30028)] and [\textit{J. Li} and \textit{H. Yi}, Arch. Math. 87, 52--59 (2006; Zbl 1104.30019)]. The authors give examples to show the sharpness of their result. The method and tools for the proof are the standard Nevanlinna theory and Zalcman's lemma. In particular, the authors give an estimate for the size of the \(\rho_n'\)s in Zalcman's lemma.