ABSTRACT. The asymptotic valúes of a meromorphic function (of any order) defined in the complex plañe form a Suslinanalytic set. Moreover, given an analytic set A* we construct a meromorphic function of finite order and minimal growth having A* as its precise set of asymptotic valúes.
1NTRODUCTIONA nonconstant meromorphic function f(z) in the plañe has the asymptotic valué a if there is a curve y tending to oo such that f(z) ->• a as z ->• oo, z G y. Let As (f) be the set of asymptotic valúes of /; for example, As (e z ) ={ 0 , oo} . A classical result of Mazurkiewicz [13] asserts that As(f) is an analytic set in the sense of Suslin [3,16].Recall that the order of / is given by
\osT(r,f)where T(r,f) is the Nevanlinna characteristic (when / is entire, T(r,f) may be replaced by logM(r, /), with M(r, f) the máximum modulus function).Heins [11] showed that given an analytic set A*, there is a meromorphic function / with As (f) = A* and, if oo e A*, then A* = As (f) for some entire function /. In general, Heins's function has infinite order. For example, if (1.1)A:=A* \ {oo} = A* nC, and card (A) = oo with A bounded, Heins produces a Riemann surface with infinitely many 'logarithmic branch points' over w = oo, so by Ahlfors's theorem A = oo. Note that A , as the intersection of two analytic sets, is analytic.