The representation of a meromorphic function as the quotient of entire functions and Paley problem in C^n: survey of some results

The classical representation problem for a meromorphic function f in C^n, n>=1, consists in representing f as the quotient f=g/h of two entire functions g and h, each with logarithm of modulus majorized by a function as close as possible to the Nevanlinna characteristic. Here we introduce generalizations of the Nevanlinna characteristic and give a short survey of classical and recent results on the representation of a meromorphic function in terms such characteristics. When f has a finite lower order, the Paley problem on best possible estimates of the growth of entire functions g and h in the representations f=g/h will be considered. Also we point out to some unsolved problems in this area.