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We present two algorithms for computing what we call the absolute factorization of a difference operator. We also give an algorithm to solve third order difference equations in terms of second order equations, together with applications to OEIS sequences. The latter algorithm is similar to existing algorithms for differential equations.

We classify order $3$ linear difference operators over $\mathbb{C}(x)$ that are solvable in terms of lower order difference operators. To prove this result, we introduce the notion of absolute irreducibility for difference modules, and classify modules that are irreducible but not absolutely irreducible by using restricted and induced modules. We also show how restriction and induction give coordinate-free formulations of sectioning and interlacing of sequences., Comment: 19 pages, revised Sections 3 and 8, updated exposition

We introduce a cohomology theory that classifies differential objects that arise from Picard-Vessiot theory, using the differential Hopf-Galois descent. To do this, we provide an explicit description of Picard-Vessiot theory in terms of differential torsors. We then use this cohomology to give a bijective correspondence between differential objects and differential torsors. As an application, we prove a universal bound for the differential splitting degree of differential central simple algebras., Comment: 19 pages; Proposition 2.7 was rewritten; Other minor changes

We show that the $n\times n$ matrix differential equation $\delta(Y)=AY$ with $n^2$ general coefficients cannot be simplified to an equation in less than $n$ parameters by using gauge transformations whose coefficients are rational functions in the matrix entries of $A$ and their derivatives. Our proof uses differential Galois theory and a differential analogue of essential dimension. We also bound the minimum number of parameters needed to describe some generic Picard-Vessiot extensions., Comment: 13 pages. Corrected miscitation of [1] on page 5; added Example 2.2; small grammatical change