On some applications of diophantine approximations.
Siegel's results [Siegel, C. L. (1929) Abh. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Phys.-Math. Kl. 1] on the transcendence and algebraic independence of values of E-functions are refined to obtain the best possible bound for the measures of irrationality and linear independence of values of arbitrary E-functions at rational points. Our results show that values of E-functions at rational points have measures of diophantine approximations typical to "almost all" numbers. In particular, any such number has the "2 + epsilon" exponent of irrationality: Theta - p/q > q(-2-epsilon) for relatively prime rational integers p,q, with q >/= q(0) (Theta, epsilon). These results answer some problems posed by Lang. The methods used here are based on the introduction of graded Padé approximations to systems of functions satisfying linear differential equations with rational function coefficients. The constructions and proofs of this paper were used in the functional (nonarithmetic case) in a previous paper [Chudnovsky, D. V. & Chudnovsky, G. V. (1983) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 80, 5158-5162].
Department of Mathematics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027.
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