1.I.8B

Further Complex Methods
Part II, 2007

The coefficients p(z)p(z) and q(z)q(z) of the differential equation

w(z)+p(z)w(z)+q(z)w(z)=0w^{\prime \prime}(z)+p(z) w^{\prime}(z)+q(z) w(z)=0

are analytic in the punctured disc 0<z<R0<|z|<R, and w1(z)w_{1}(z) and w2(z)w_{2}(z) are linearly independent solutions in the neighbourhood of the point z0z_{0} in the disc. By considering the effect of analytically continuing w1w_{1} and w2w_{2}, show that the equation ()(*) has a non-trivial solution of the form

w(z)=zσn=cnznw(z)=z^{\sigma} \sum_{n=-\infty}^{\infty} c_{n} z^{n}