On a result of Bergweiler and Eremenko concerning derivatives bounded on preimages of unbounded sets (Q380711)

The author investigates properties of the derivatives of entire functions. \textit{W. Bergweiler} and \textit{A. Eremenko} [Ann. Acad. Sci. Fenn., Math. 37, No. 1, 301--307 (2012; Zbl 1291.30181)] proved for a nonlinear entire function \(f\) and an unbounded set \(M\subset \mathbb C\) that \(f'(f^{-1}(M))\) is unbounded. The author generalizes this result to higher-order derivatives. Let \(k\) be a natural number and \(f\) be an entire function which is not a polynomial of degree at most \(k\). The author assumes the following condition (W): there is a value \(w^*\in \mathbb C\) such that the sets \(f'(f^{-1}(\{w^*\})), \dots, f^{(k-1)}(f^{-1}(\{w^*\}))\) are bounded. Under condition (W), it is shown that for each unbounded set \(M\subset\mathbb C\), the set \(f^{(k)}(f^{-1}(M))\) is unbounded. If \(f\) has bounded spherical derivative, condition (W) can be skipped. The tools of proof basically follow the reasoning in the paper of Bergweiler and Eremenko [loc. cit], e.g., Zalcman's rescaling lemma and Valiron's result. The author further uses an extension of Marty's theorem and an extension of Hinkkanen's normality result for higher derivatives.