Angular distribution and growth of meromophic functions (Q687902)

(From the author's summary) Let \(f(z)\) be a meromorphic function of order \(\lambda\) and lower order \(\mu<\infty\). Suppose that the plane is divided into \(m\) sectors \(S_ j\) by \(m\) rays \(\arg z=\theta_ j\). Let \(\overline {n}'(r,0)\) and \(\overline{n}'(r,\infty)\) be the number of zeros and poles, respectively, of \(f(z)\) in \(\bigcup_{1\leq j\leq m} S_ j'\), where \(S_ j'\) is a sector with vertex at \(z=0\) and strictly inside \(S_ j\). If \[ \varlimsup {{\log^ + \overline {n}'(r,\alpha)} \over {\log r}}\leq \rho \] for every choice of the \(S_ j'\) and for \(\alpha=0\) and \(\alpha=\infty\), then \(\delta(a,f^{(\ell)})>0\) for \(a\neq 0,\infty\) implies \(\lambda\leq\max ((\pi/\omega),\rho)\), where \(\omega\) is the least angle at the vertex of any \(S_ j\).