TITLE: Which meromorphic functions are logarithmic derivatives of other meromorphic functions?
QUESTION [5 upvotes]: Let $f$ be a meromorphic function defined on the whole complex plane. 

Is there a characterization in terms of easier-to-test properties of $f$ whether or not $f=g'/g$ for some entire $g$?

The question is in the spirit of theorems like:

If $f$ is entire and nonzero, then $f=e^g$ for entire $g$. (More generally, if $f$ is holomorphic and nonzero in a simply connected domain, then $f=e^g$ for $g$ holomorphic in that domain.)
If $f$ is a rational function with no nonzero residue at any pole, then $f = g'$ for a rational $g$.

My main question is as above but here are some generalizations I would also be interested in if you happen to know anything about them: (1) what if I just required $g$ satisfying $f=g'/g$ to be meromorphic? (2) What if I just asked $f$ to be meromorphic in a simply connected domain?

REPLY [6 votes]: If $g$ is holomorphic in some domain $D$ then $f = g'/g$ has only simple poles, and the residue at each pole is a positive integer.
Conversely, if  $f$ is meromorphic in the simply-connected domain $D$ with
only simple poles, and the residue at each pole is a positive integer,
then there is a holomorphic function $g$ in $D$ such that $f = g'/g$.
Proof: Let $P \subset D$ be the set of (isolated) poles of $f$.
Fix a point $z_0 \in D \setminus P$ and define $g$ in $D \setminus P$
by 
$$
  g(z) = \exp \left( \int_\gamma f(t) \, dt \right )
$$
where $\gamma$ is any path in $D \setminus P$ connecting $z_0$ to $z$.
The definition is independent of the choice of $\gamma$: If
$\gamma_1$ and $\gamma_2$ are two paths from $z_0$ to $z$
then $\gamma_1 -\gamma_2$ is a closed path in $D \setminus P$,
and from the residue theorem it follows that
$$
 \int_{\gamma_1} f(t) \, dt - \int_{\gamma_2} f(t) \, dt
 = 2 \pi i \sum_{p \in P} \text{n} ( \gamma_1 -\gamma_2, p) \,
\text{Res} (f, p)
$$
and that is $2 \pi i$ times some integer. It follows that
$$
\exp \left( \int_{\gamma_1} f(t) \, dt \right ) = 
\exp \left( \int_{\gamma_2} f(t) \, dt \right ) \, .
$$ 
$g$ is holomorphic in $D \setminus P$ and satisfies $g'/g = f$.
It remains to show that $g$ can be continued analytically to $D$.
Let $z_1 \in P$ be a pole of $f$ with residue $k$. Then
$$
 f(z) = \frac{k}{z-z_1} + f_1(z)
$$
where $f_1$ is holomorphic in a neighborhood $U$ of $z_1$.
Using the same technique as above,
$$
g_1(z) = (z - z_1)^k \exp \left( \int_\gamma f_1(t) \, dt \right)
\quad \text{($\gamma$ is any path from $z_1$ to $z$ in $U$)}
$$
is holomorphic in $U$ and satisfies $g_1'/g_1 = f$.
If follows that $g$ and $g_1$ are constant multiples of each other
in $U\setminus \{ z_1 \}$, which means that $g$ has a holomorphic
continuation to $z_1$ (and a $k$-fold zero in that point).
Remarks: The condition "$D$ simply-connected" is used when applying
the residue theorem, and this condition cannot be dropped: For $a
\in \Bbb C \setminus \Bbb Z$, $f(z) = a/z$ is holomorphic in
$D = \{ z : 1 < |z| < 2 \}$, but not a logarithmic derivative.
If $f$ is holomorphic in $D$ with simple poles and
the residue at each pole is a (positive or negative) integer,
then the same technique shows that $f = g'/g$ for some
meromorphic function $g$ in $D$.