Algebraic properties of Airy operators of small order (Q5952893)

The Airy operators are defined by the family of differential operators \(P_n (\partial)+Q_m(x),\) with \(\partial=d/dx\) and \(P_n\) and \(Q_m\) being polynomials over the complex field of degrees \(n\) and \(m\) respectively. This family is a natural generalization of the classical Airy operator \(\partial^2-x\), and it was introduced by \textit{N. M. Katz} [Invent. Math. 87, 13--61 (1987; Zbl 0609.12025)]. In that paper Katz studied the Galois groups of the above family for \(n , m\) relatively prime. These results can be viewed as a generalization of the well-known fact that the Galois group of the classical Airy operator is \(\text{SL}(2,{\mathbb C})\) [\textit{I. Kaplansky}, An introduction to differential algebra, Paris: Hermann (1957; Zbl 0083.03301), 2nd ed. (1996; Zbl 0954.12500)].NEWLINENEWLINEThe paper under review is devoted to the study of some algebraic properties of the family of Airy operators when \(n, m\) are not relatively prime and inf\((n,m)\leq 3\).