Unicity of Meromorphic Solutions of Some Nonlinear Difference Equations ()
1. Introduction
It is well known that a given nonconstant monic polynomial is determined by its zeros. But it is not true for transcendental entire or meromorphic functions. Take
and
for example, they are essentially different even have the same zeros, 1-value points and poles. This indicates that it is complex and interesting to determine a transcendental meromorphic function uniquely. Nevanlinna then proves his famous Nevanlinna’s 5 CM (4 IM) Theorem (see e.g. [1] [2] ):
Theorem A: Let w(z) and u(z) be two nonconstant meromorphic functions. If w(z) and u(z) share 5 values IM (4 values CM, respectively) in the extended complex plane, then
, where T is a Möbius transformation, respectively).
Here and in the following, for two nonconstant meromorphic functions w(z) and u(z), and a complex constant a, we say w(z) and u(z) share a IM (CM), if w(z)-a and u(z)-a have the same zeros ignoring multiplicities (counting multiplicities); and we say w(z) and u(z) share ∞ IM(CM), if they have the same poles ignoring multiplicities (counting multiplicities).
Our aim is to study the unicity of meromorphic solutions to the nonlinear difference equation of the form
, (1.1)
where R(z) is a nonzero rational function and
The Equation (1.1) comes from the family of Painlevé III equations which are given by Ronkainen in [3] when he classifies the difference equation
where R(z, w) is irreducible and rational in w and meromorphic in z. This is a natural idea which comes from the topic on the growth, value distribution and unicity on the meromorphic solutions to difference equations (see e.g. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] ). The first result is as follows.
Theorem 1.1. Let w(z) and u(z) be two finite order transcendental meromorphic solutions to the Equation (1.1), where
. If w(z) and u(z) share 0, ∞ CM, then
, where
is a constant such that
.
The following examples show that all cases in Theorem 1.1. can happen, and the “CM” cannot be relaxed to “IM”.
Example 1. In the following examples,
and
share 0, ∞ CM, while
and
share 0, ∞ IM
:
1)
and
satisfy the difference equation
here
such that
.
2)
and
satisfy the difference equation
here
such that
.
3)
and
satisfy the difference equation
here
such that
.
4)
and
satisfy the difference equation
here
such that
.
Theorem 1.2. Let w(z) and u(z) be two finite order transcendental meromorphic solutions to the Equation (1.1), where
. If w(z) and u(z) share 0, ∞ CM, then
(1.2)
where
are constants such that
. What is more,
if
has a zero
of multiplicity
such that
.
The following example shows that all conclusions in Theorem 1.2 can happen, and the “CM” cannot be relaxed to “IM”.
Example 2. Let
and
,
,
. Then
and
share 0, ∞ CM, while
and
share 0, ∞ IM (j = 1, 2, 3), and they solve the equation
Theorem 1.3. Let w(z) and u(z) be two finite order transcendental meromorphic solutions to the Equation (1.1), where
. If w(z) and u(z) share 1, ∞ CM, then
(1.3)
where
are constants such that:
1)
, when
; 2)
, when
; (3)
, when
, where
are some integers. What is more,
if one of the following additional condition holds:
a)
has a zero
of multiplicity
such that
;
b) there exist two constants
such that
and
.
Remark 1. We have tried hard but failed to provide some similar results as Theorem 1.3 for the cases
so far.
2. Proof of Theorem 1.1
Since w(z) and u(z) are finite order transcendental meromorphic functions and share 0, ∞ CM, we see that
where
is a polynomial such that it is of degree
Next, we discuss case by case.
Case 1: m = −2. From (1.1) and (2.1) we get
which gives
Thus, we have
(2.2)
Since
from (2.2), it is easy to find that p = 0. Therefore, there exists some constant
, such that
and
That is, for
, we have
and
.
Case 2: m = −1. Now, we obtain from (1.1) and (2.1) that
With this equation and similar reasoning as in Case 1, we can deduce that
holds for some
such that
.
Case 3: m = 0. From (1.1) and (2.1), we have
Similarly, we can prove that
holds for some
such that
.
Case 4: m = 1. Now (1.1) is of the form
(2.3)
Thus,
It follows from these two equations above and (2.1) that
with which we can show that
holds for some
such that
. However, if
, we find that
(2.4)
Combining (2.3) and (2.4), we get
, which is impossible. Thus,
.
3. Proof of Theorem 1.2
Notice that (2.1) still holds for this case. We can get from (1.1) and (2.1) that
Thus, we have
(3.1)
If
, then our conclusion holds for
. If
, set
(3.2)
where
are constants.
From (3.2), we see that
(3.3)
where q(z) is a polynomial such that
when
, or
when
.
Suppose that
, we obtain from (3.1) and (3.3) that
which is impossible. Thus,
, then from (3.1) and (3.3), we get
immediately. To sum up, we prove that (1.2) holds.
Next, we use
and prove our additional conclusion. From (1.2), we see that
.
Differentiating both sides of (1.2), we can deduce that
and
By our assumption, (1.2}), (3.4) and the fact that
, we have
Therefore, similarly, it follows from (3.5) that
As a result, we obtain
that is,
. Hence,
.
4. Proof of Theorem 1.3
Here, we need the lemma below, where the case that R(z) is a nonzero constant has been proved by Zhang and Yang [7] and the case that R(z) is a nonconstant rational function by Lan and Chen [8] .
Lemma 4.1. [7] [8] Let w(z) be a finite order transcendental meromorphic solution to
the Equation (1.1), where
and a be a constant. Then
Proof of Theorem 1.3. Since
and
are finite order transcendental meromorphic functions and share 1, ∞ CM, we see that
(4.1)
where
is a polynomial such that
(4.2)
where
are constants and
.
Case 1: m = 0. From (1.1) and (4.1), we obtain
(4.3)
and
(4.4)
where
is a rational function. Combining (4.1}), (4.3) and (4.4), we have
(4.5)
Now, if
, then
and it follows from (4.5) that
(4.6)
Notice that
. From (4.6), we can find that
This is a contradiction to the conclusion of Lemma 4.1. Thus,
. From (4.2) there exists some integer
such that
which yields obviously that
. Therefore, we see that
and hence
for some constant
.
Case 2: m = −1. Now (1.1) is of the form
which gives
With this equation and a similar arguing as in Case 1, we can prove that
for some integer
and some constant
.
Case 3: m = 1. Now (1.1) is of the form
which gives
And hence we have
It follows this equation that
for some integer
and some constant
, and (1.3) holds.
Now, if
has a zero
of multiplicity
such that
, then from (4.1), we see that
.
Rewrite (4.1) as the form
Differentiating both sides of the equation above, we have
Since
is a zero of with multiplicity such that, from the fact that and (4.7), we find that
Thus, , and hence. This implies that.
Finally, we discuss the Case 2). Since and, then from (4.1), we can deduce that. Therefore, there exists an integer such that
If, from the equation above, considering each form of for, we can find that must be a nonzero rational number. This contradicts our assumption that. Thus, and hence. This gives again.
5. Conclusion
It is shown that the finite order transcendental meromorphic solution of the Equation (1.1) is mainly determined by its zeros (or 1-value points) and poles. Examples are provided to show sharpness of our results.
Acknowledgements
The author is very appreciated for the editors and reviewers for their constructive suggestions and comments for the readability of this paper.
Funding
This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2018A030307062).