Hypergeometric series with gamma product formula (Q2400625)

Let \(\mathbb C\) and \(D\) denote the complex plane and the unit disk in the complex plane, respectively. For a given data \(\lambda=(p,q,r;a,b;x)\in \mathbb C^5\times D\) consider an entire meromorphic function \[ f(w;\lambda):= {}_2F_1(pw+a,qw+b;rw;x), \] where \({}_2F_1(\alpha,\beta;\gamma;z)\) is the Gauss hypergeometric series. The function \(f(w;\lambda)\) is said to admit a gamma product formula (GPF) if there exist a rational function \(S(w)\in\mathbb C(w)\); a constant \(d\in\mathbb C^\times\); two integers \(m,n\in\mathbb Z_{\geq 0}\); \(m\) numbers \(u_1,\ldots,u_m\in \mathbb C\); \(n\) numbers \(v_1,\ldots,v_n\in \mathbb C\) such that \[ f(w;\lambda)=S(w)\cdot d^w \cdot \frac{\Gamma(w+u_1)\dots \Gamma(w+u_m)}{\Gamma(w+v_1)\dots \Gamma(w+v_n)}, \] where \(\Gamma(w)\) is the Euler gamma function. The function \(f(w;\lambda)\) is also said to be of closed form if \[ \frac{f(w+1;\lambda)}{f(w;\lambda)}=:\mathbb R(w;\lambda)\in \mathbb C(w)\;\text{: a rational function of \(w\).} \] The author considers two problems: Problem I. Find a data \(\lambda=(p,q,r;a,b;x)\) for which \(f(w;\lambda)\) admits GPF; and Problem II. Find a data \(\lambda=(p,q,r;a,b;x)\) for which \(f(w;\lambda)\) is of closed form. The author focuses on \(\lambda\) lying in the real domain, that is, \[ p,q,r\in \mathbb R,\quad 0< p< r\;\text{ or }\;0< q< r;\quad a,b\in \mathbb R;\quad 0< x< 1 \] and proves that in that case Problem I and Problem II are equivalent (Thm. 2.1). Consequently, the author gives some necessary conditions (Thms. 2.2--2.5) for a given data \(\lambda\) to be a solution to Problems I and II.