Linear Differential Equations in the Complex Domain: Problems of Analytic Continuation

Research in differential equations is usually oriented toward explicit results and motivated by applications. Many clever methods have been discovered in this way, but, when problems of more fundamental difficulty arise, researchers must find something intrinsic in the mathematics itself in order to make progress. As research in topology, algebraic geometry, and functions of several complex variables have advanced, many methods useful in such fields were introduced into the study of differential equations.