Semiconjugate factorizations of higher order linear difference equations in rings.

We use a new nonlinear method to study linear difference equations with variable coefficients in a non-trivial ringR. If the homogeneous part of the linear equation has a solution in the unit group of a ring with identity (a unitary solution), then we show that the equation decomposes into two linear equations of lower orders. This decomposition, known as a semiconjugate factorization in the nonlinear theory, is based on sequences of ratios of consecutive terms of a unitary solution. Such sequences, which may be called eigensequences, are well suited to variable coefficients; for instance, they provide a natural context for the expression of the Poincaré–Perron theorem. As applications, we obtain new results for linear difference equations with periodic coefficients and for linear recurrences in rings of functions (e.g. the recurrence for the modified Bessel functions). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]