The differential Galois group of the rational function field (Q2656122)

The differential Galois group of a linear differential equation is a linear algebraic group that measures the algebraic relations among the solutions: the larger the group, the fewer relations there are. This group is central for analyzing algebraic properties of the solutions. One of the guiding problems in the Galois theory of differential equations is the so-called inverse problem. It asks which linear algebraic groups occur as differential Galois groups over a given differential field \(F\). For \(F=\mathbb{C}(x)\), H. B. Matzat's conjecture states that its absolute differential Galois group is the free proalgebraic group on a set of cardinality \(|\mathbb{C}|\). The authors prove this conjecture. For the proof they develop a new characterization of free proalgebraic groups in terms of split embedding problems, and they use patching techniques in order to solve a very general class of differential embedding problems. Their result about \(\mathbb{C}(x)\) also applies to rational function fields over more general fields of coefficients.