On the growth of linear differential polynomials of meromorphic functions (Q920236)

Let f denote a meromorphic function and let \(a_ 1,...,a_ k\) be k linearly independent functions. Let L(f) denote the Wronskian of f, \(a_ 1,...,a_ k\). This article is devoted to consider the growth of such Wronskians, provided \(a_ 1,...,a_ k\) are small in some sense. Let f be transcendental and of finite order \(\lambda\) while U: (r\({}_ 0,+\infty)\to {\mathbb{R}}_+\) is a continuous function such that \[ (1)\quad \lim_{r\to \infty}(\log U(r)/\log r)=\lambda, \] (2) there exists \(c>1\) such that \(U(cr)=O(U(r))\) and (3) \(0<\limsup_{r\to \infty}(T(r,f)/U(r))<\infty\). Denote \(S(r,U)=\{g\) meromorphic\(|\) \(T(r,g)=o(U(r))\}\). Two typical results now read as follows: (1) Let \(a_ i\in S(r,U)\) for \(i=1,...,k\). Then L(f) also has the order of growth \(\lambda\). (2) Let \(a_ i\in \sigma (f):=\{a\) meromorphic\(|\) \(T(cr,a)=S(r,f)\) for some \(c>1\}\), \(i=1,...,k\); c may depend on a. Then L(f) and f have the same order and lower order.