On the value distribution of derivatives of meromorphic functions (Q2484657)

A well-known result on the value distribution of the derivatives of meromorphic functions (in the complex plane) due to \textit{W.~K.~Hayman} [Ann. Math. (2) 70, 9--42 (1959; Zbl 0088.28505)] states that if a transcendental meromorphic function \(f\) has no zeros, then \(f'\) takes any nonzero value infinitely many times. Further results on this subject were proved by \textit{W.~Bergweiler} and \textit{A.~Eremenko} [Rev. Mat. Iberoam. 11, 355--373 (1995; Zbl 0830.30016)] and by \textit{M.~Fang} [Bull. Korean Math. Soc. 38, 379--387 (2001; Zbl 0982.30012)]. In this paper, the author proves the following two interesting complementary results. Theorem 1. Let \(f\) be a transcendental meromorphic function, let \(R \not\equiv 0\) be a rational function, and let \(k\) be a positive integer. Suppose that all zeros of \(f\) have multiplicity at least \(k\), except possibly finitely many, and \(f(z)=0\) if and only if \(f^{(k)}(z)=0\). Then \(f^{(k)}-R\) has infinitely many zeros. Theorem 2. Let \(f\) be a transcendental meromorphic function, let \(R\) be a rational function such that \(\lim_{z\to\infty}{R(z)}=c\) with a constant \(c \neq 0\), let \(k\) be a positive integer, and let \(a\) be a nonzero complex number. Suppose that all zeros of \(f\) have multiplicity at least \(k\), except possibly finitely many, and \(f^{(k)}(z)=a\) whenever \(f(z)=0\). Then \(f^{(k)}-R\) has infinitely many zeros provided that (i) \(k \geq 3\), or (ii) \(k=2\) and \(a \neq 4c\), or (iii) \(k=1\) and \(a \neq nc\) for \(n=2,3,\dots\). The main tools of the proofs are well-known results on Julia exceptional functions and a version of Zalcman's lemma on normal families due to X.~C.~Pang and L.~Zalcman.