A note on a difference analogue of the Valiron-Mohon'ko theorem (Q682103)

The Valiron-Mohon'ko theorem plays an important role in the theory of complex differential equations. In this paper, a difference analogue of this theorem is established and used to get the characteristic functions on irreducible rational functions of \(f(z)\) and their shifts. Moreover, using the results of the authors and some properties of periodic functions, the proof of Theorem 1.1 in [\textit{S.-T. Lan} and \textit{Z.-X. Chen}, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 412, No. 2, 922--942 (2014; Zbl 1308.30036)] can be shortened. Let \(c_{i}, \eta_{j}\in\mathbb{C}\) for \(i = 1, 2, \ldots, n, j =1, 2, \ldots, m\) and let \(I, J\) be two finite sets of multi-indices \(\lambda = (\lambda_{0}, \ldots, \lambda_{n}),\gamma = (\gamma_{0}, \ldots, \gamma_{m})\). Define two difference polynomials by \[ P (z, f, c_{i}) = \sum_{\lambda\in I}a_{\lambda}(z)f (z)^{\lambda_{0}}f (z + c_{1})^{\lambda_{1}}\cdots f(z + c_{n})^{\lambda_{n}} \] and \[ Q (z, f, \eta_{j}) = \sum_{\gamma \in J}b_{\gamma}(z)f (z)^{\gamma_{0}}f (z + \eta_{1})^{\gamma_{1}}\cdots f (z + \eta_{m})^{\gamma_{m}} \] with the coefficients \(a_{\lambda}(z), b_{\gamma}(z)\) being small with respect to \(f(z)\). Define the degree as \(\operatorname{deg} (P (z, f)) = \max\left\{\lambda_{0}+\cdots+\lambda_{n}\right\} = p\) and \(\operatorname{deg}(Q(z, f)) = \max\left\{\gamma_{0}+\cdots+\gamma_{m}\right\} = q\), let \(s = \min\left\{\lambda_{0}+\cdots+\lambda_{n}\right\}, t = \min\left\{\gamma_{0}+\cdots+\gamma_{m}\right\}\). Let \(c_{0}=\eta_{0}=0\). An index \(M\) is counted by the sum of all \(\lambda_{i}\) and \(\gamma_{j}\), if \(c_{i} = \eta_{j}\), then \(\max{\lambda_{i}, \gamma_{j}}\) will be counted, if \(c_{i}\neq \gamma_{j}\), \(\lambda_{i}+\gamma_{j}\) will be counted in \(M\), where \(i = 0, 1, 2, \ldots, n, j = 0, 1, 2, \ldots, m\). For a finite order transcendental meromorphic function \(f(z)\) with two Borel exceptional values \(a \in \mathbb{C}\) and \(b\in \mathbb{C}\cup \left\{\infty\right\}\), the authors prove the following, which can be seen as the difference analogue of the Valiron-Mohon'ko theorem (see [\textit{G. Valiron}, Bull. Soc. Math. Fr. 59, 17--39 (1931; Zbl 0002.27102)]): Theorem. Let \(f(z)\) be a transcendental meromorphic function of finite order with two Borel exceptional values \(a \in \mathbb{C}\) and \(b\in \mathbb{C}\cup \left\{\infty\right\}\). For all irreducible difference rational functions in \(f(z)\) and their shifts let \[ R(z, f, c_{i}, \eta_{j})=\frac{P(z, f, c_{i})}{Q(z, f, \eta_{j})}. \] Then the characteristic function \(T\) of \(R(z, f, c_{i}, \eta_{j})\) satisfies the following: (i) if \(b=\infty\), then \[ T\left(r, R(z, f, c_{i}, \eta_{j})\right)=\max\left\{p, q\right\}T(r, f)+S(r, f) \] (ii) if \(b\neq \infty\), then \[ T\left(r, R(z, f, c_{i}, \eta_{j})\right)=M\cdot T(r, f)+S(r, f). \]