Zeros of Functions of Finite Order

Theorem
Let $\map f z$ be an entire function which satisfies:
 * $\map f 0 \ne 0$
 * $\cmod {\map f z} \ll \map \exp {\map \alpha {\cmod z} }$

for all $z \in \C$ and some function $\alpha$, where $\ll$ is the order notation.

For $T \ge 1$, let:


 * $\map N T = \# \set {\rho \in \C: \map f r = 0, \ \cmod \rho < T}$

where $\#$ denotes the cardinality of a set.

Then:
 * $\map N T \ll \map \alpha {2 T}$

Proof
Fix $T \ge 1$ and let $\rho_1, \rho_2, \ldots, \rho_n$ be an enumeration of the zeros of $f$ with modulus less than $T$, counted with multiplicity.

By Jensen's Formula:


 * $\ds \frac 1 {2 \pi} \int_0^{2 \pi} \ln \size {\map f {T e^{i \theta} } } \rd \theta = \ln \cmod {\map f 0} + \sum_{k \mathop = 1}^n \paren {\ln T - \ln \size {\rho_k} }$

Let $\rho_0 = 1$, $\rho_{n + 1} = T$, $r_k = \size {\rho_k}$.

Then:

and

Moreover, by hypothesis we have that:


 * $\ds \frac 1 {2 \pi} \int_0^{2 \pi} \ln \size {\map f {T e^{i \theta} } } \rd \theta \le \sup_{\theta \mathop \in \closedint 0 {2 \pi} } \ln \size {\map f {T e^{i \theta} } } \ll \map \alpha T$

Putting these facts into Jensen's Formula we have:


 * $\map N {\dfrac T 2} \ln 2 + \cmod {\map f 0} \ll \map \alpha T$

which implies:


 * $\map N T \ll \map \alpha {2 T}$