Normal forms for rational difference equations with applications to the global periodicity problem (Q884340)

This very interesting paper determines three affine normal forms for the rational difference equation \[ x_{n+k}= (a_0+ a_1 x_n+\cdots+ a_k x_{n+k-1})/(b_0+ b_1 x_n+\cdots+ b_k x_{n+k-1}) \] with complex coefficients. In the case \(k= 2\) these normal forms are used to establish necessary conditions such that the difference equation is globally periodic. As a consequence, new globally periodic equations with \(a_0= b_2= 0\), \(a_2= 1-a_1\) and \(b_1= 1\) are constructed.