Finite order solutions of linear differential equations in the unit disc (Q952143)

The authors study the growth of solutions of the linear differential equation \[ f^{(k)}+a_{k-1}(z)f^{(k-1)}+\dots+a_0(z)f=0\tag{1} \] where \(a_j(z)\) is analytic in the unit disk \(\mathbb D\). The order of growth of an analytic function \(f\) in \(\mathbb D\) can be defined either as \[ \sigma(f):=\limsup_{r\to1-}\frac{\log^+T(r,f)}{-\log(1-r)} \] where \(T(r,f)\) is the Newanlinna characteristic of \(f\). For \(p>0\) and \(\alpha>-1\), the weighted Bergman space \(A_\alpha^p\) consists of those analytic functions \(g\) in \(\mathbb D\) for which \[ \|g\|_{A_\alpha^p}:=\left(\int_{\mathbb D}|g(z)|^p\cdot(1-|z|^2)^\alpha dA(z)\right)^{1/p}<\infty. \] The authors prove the following theorems. Theorem 1. Let \(0\leq\alpha<\infty\). Then all solutions \(f\) of (1), where \(a_j(z)\) is analytic in \(\mathbb D\) for all \(j=0,\dots,k-1\), satisfy \(\sigma(f)\leq\alpha\) if and only if \(a_j\in \bigcap_{0<p<\frac{1}{k-j}} A_\alpha^p\) for all \(j=0,\dots,k-1\). Theorem 2. Let \(0\leq\alpha<\infty\). If \(a_j\in A_\alpha^{\frac{1}{k-j}}\) for all \(j=0,\dots,k-1\), then the zero-sequence \(\{z_n\}\) of any non-trivial solution \(f\) of (1) satisfies \(\sum_{n=1}^\infty (1-|z_n|)^{\alpha+1}<\infty\). The authors investigate the case of nonhomogeneous differential equations. Several non-trivial examples are given in order to show that the established results are in some sense sharp.