An extremal problem for a class of entire functions (Q943632)

Denote by \(E_{\sigma},\sigma>0\), the class of entire functions \(f\) of exponential type whose indicator diagram is contained in \([-i\sigma ,i\sigma]\), i.e. that satisfy \[ h(\theta):=\limsup_{r\rightarrow\infty}\frac{\log | f(re^{i\theta}| }{r}\leq\sigma| \sin\theta| , \quad | \theta| \leq\pi. \] Let then \(n(r)\) be the number of zeros of \(f\) in \(| z| \leq r\), counting multiplicity, and consider the upper density \(D:=\limsup_{r\rightarrow\infty}\frac{n(r)}{r}\). Making use of the Jensen formula, one obtains the estimate \(D\leq 2e\sigma /\pi \approx 1.7305\sigma\). This estimate is sharp in the class of entire functions that satisfy the condition \(h(\theta)\leq\sigma\). The purpose of this paper is to give a sharp density estimate in the class \(E_{\sigma}\): In this class, \(D\leq c\sigma\), where \(c\approx 1.508879\) is the unique solution of the equation \[ \log (\sqrt{1+c^{2}}+c)=\sqrt{1+c^{-2}} \] in \((0,+\infty)\). Moreover, for every \(\sigma >0\), there exist entire functions \(f\in E_{\sigma}\) such that \(D=c\sigma\). The existence of these extremal functions follows by applying a construction from \textit{A. Eremenko} and \textit{D. Novikov} [J. Math. Pures Appl. 83, 313--365 (2004; Zbl 1080.30025)].