An improvement of the Nevanlinna-Gundersen theorem (Q624632)

For a meromorphic function \(f\) on \(\mathbb{C},\) denote by \(\nu_{f}\) the zero divisor of \(f.\) In 1926, \textit{R. Nevanlinna} [Acta Math. 48, 367--391 (1926; JFM 52.0323.03)] proved the well-known four-value theorem that for two non-constant meromorphic functions \(f\) and \(g\) on the complex plane \(\mathbb{C}\) and for four distinct values \(a_{j}\in\mathbb{C}\cup\{\infty\},\) if \(\nu_{f-a_{j}}=\nu_{g-a_{j}}\) for all \(1\leq j\leq 4,\) then \(g\) is a Möbius transformation of \(f.\) In 1983, \textit{G. G. Gundersen} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 277, 545--567 (1983; Zbl 0508.30029)] generalized the result of Nevanlinna to the case where the above condition is replaced by: \(\min\{\nu_{f-a_{j}}, 1\}= \min\{\nu_{g-a_{j}}, 1\}\) for \(j=1,2\) and \(\nu_{f-a_{j}}=\nu_{g-a_{j}}\) for \(j=3, 4.\) Gundersen gave examples to explain that the result does not remain valid in the case where \(\min\{\nu_{f-a_{j}}, 1\}= \min\{\nu_{g-a_{j}}, 1\}\) for all \(1\leq j\leq 4.\) Gundersen also posed the question whether the result remains valid in the case \(\min\{\nu_{f-a_{j}}, 1\}= \min\{\nu_{g-a_{j}}, 1\}\) for \(j=1,2, 3\) and \(\nu_{f-a_{j}}=\nu_{g-a_{j}}\) for \(j=4\) ? It is an interesting subject to consider the above Nevanlinna-Gundersen theorem for the case where the \(a_{j}\) are small (with respect to \(f\)) meromorphic functions. In 2003, \textit{W. Yao} [Arch. Math. 81, No. 6, 666--677 (2003; Zbl 1053.30020)] proved that the theorem of Gundersen is also true for the case where the \(a_{j}\) are small (with respect to \(f\)) meromorphic functions In this paper, the authors establish the improvement that the theorem of Gundersen remains valid in the case where \(\min\{\nu_{f-a_{j}}, 1\}= \min\{\nu_{g-a_{j}}, 1\}\) for \(j=1,2\) and \(\min\{\nu_{f-a_{j}}, 2\}= \min\{\nu_{g-a_{j}}, 2\}\) for \(j=3,4\). We notice that the question of Gundersen remains open.