Normal families and shared sets of meromorphic functions (Q627371)

The author proves the following theorem. Let \(k\), \(m\) and \(n\) be positive integers with \(m \geq 2\), let \(\mathcal{F}\) be a family of meromorphic functions in a domain \(D \subset \mathbb{C}\), all of whose zeros are of multiplicity at least \(k+1\). Furthermore, let \(S_1=\{a_1,\dotsc,a_m\}\) and \(S_2=\{b_1,\dotsc,b_n\}\), where \(a_1,\dotsc,a_m\) are \(m\) distinct complex numbers and \(b_1,\dotsc,b_n\) are \(n\) distinct complex numbers. If for every \(f \in \mathcal{F}\) there holds \(f(z) \in S_2\) whenever \(f^{(k)}(z) \in S_1\), then \(\mathcal{F}\) is a normal family in \(D\). This result generalizes previous theorems of \textit{M. Fang} and \textit{L. Zalcman} [Comput. Methods Funct. Theory 2, No. 2, 385--395 (2002; Zbl 1048.30018)], as well as of \textit{M. Fang} [J. Math. Study 29, No. 4, 29--32 (1996; Zbl 0919.30027)] and \textit{X. Liu} and \textit{X. Pang} [Acta Math. Sin., Chin. Ser. 50, No. 2, 409--412 (2007; Zbl 1121.30305)]. The author also gives examples that the hypothesis on the zeros cannot be dropped and that the result is no longer true for \(m=1\). The main tool in the proof is the well-known normality criterion of Zalcman.