Meromorphic functions sharing two small functions with its derivative (Q2497388)

Let \(f(z)\) be a meromorphic function. It is known that if \(f(z)\) and \(f'(z)\) share two distinct values CM, then \(f(z)= f'(z)\), see [\textit{G. G. Gundersen}, Meromorphic functions that share two finite values with their derivative, Pac. J. Math. 105, 299--309 (1983; Zbl 0497.30025)]. The authors consider a sharing problem on \(f(z)\) and \(g(z)= a_1(z)f(z)+ a_2(z) f'(z)\), where \(a_j(z)\), \(j= 1,2\) are small functions with respect to \(f(z)\), and \(a_2(z)\not\equiv 0\). They show the following: let \(b(z)(\not\equiv 0)\) be a small function with respect to \(f(z)\). If \(f(z)\) and \(g(z)\) share \(0\) \(\text{CM}^*\), and \(b(z)\) \(\text{IM}^*\), then \(f(z)= g(z)\) or \(f(z)\) takes one of the following two forms: (i) \(f= b/(h- 1)\) and \(a_1b+ a_2b'= 0\), where \(h\) satisfies \(h'/h= -1/a_2\), (ii) \(f= 2b/(h- 1)\) and \(a_1b+ a_2b'= 0\), where \(h\) satisfies \(h'/h= -2/a_2\). The proofs in this paper are based on some lemmas from Nevanlinna theory. The authors also consider applications of this result to some complex differential equations.