Entire solutions of higher order Briot-Bouquet equations

Abstract

For a meromorphic function $f$ in the complex plane, we determine when $f$ and $f^{(k)}$ are algebraically dependent. This happens precisely when $f$ belongs to the class $W$ of elliptic functions and their degenerates, or satisfies a linear differential equation $f^{(k)}+af+b=0$ with constant coefficients. The case of functions having a pole was settled previously. We complete the proof by treating entire solutions.

arXiv comment11 pages