Entire functions sharing polynomials with derivatives (Q292107)

The authors consider uniqueness problems for entire functions that share polynomials with higher-order derivatives. Let \(f\) be a transcendental entire function and let \(a\) be a polynomial. Denote by \(E(a;f)\) and \(\overline{E}(a;f)\) the set of all zeros of \(f-a\) (counted with multiplicities) and that of all distinct zeros of \(f-a\), respectively. \textit{G. Jank} et al. [Complex Variables, Theory Appl. 6, 51--71 (1986; Zbl 0603.30037)] obtained a result on the uniqueness of entire functions sharing a single nonzero finite value with its first two derivatives. The purpose of the paper the following: Replacement of ``shared value'' by ``shared polynomial''. The main tool is Nevanlinna theory. Let \(A\) be a set contained in \(\mathbb C\). Denote by \(N_A(r,a;f)\) the counting function (counting with multiplicities) of those zeros of \(f-a\) which belong to \(A\), and denote by \(N_{(2}(r,a;f)\) the counting function of distinct multiple zeros of \(f-a\). The authors prove the following: Let \(f\) be a transcendental entire function and \(a=a(z)\) (\(\not\equiv 0\)) be a polynomial of \(\deg a< \min \{l, k-l\}\), where \(l\) and \(k\), with \(k>l\), are relatively prime positive integers. Suppose that \(A=E(a;f)\setminus E(a;f^{(l)})\) and \(B=E(a;f^{(l)})\setminus E(a;f^{(k)})\). If \(N_A(r,a;f)+N_B(r,a;f^{(l)})+N_{(2}(r,a;f)=S(r,f)\) and \(T(r,f)\neq N(r,0;f)+S(r,f)\), then \(f=\lambda e^z\), where \(\lambda\) is a non-zero constant.