Algebraic groups as difference Galois groups of linear differential equations

Abstract

We study the inverse problem in the difference Galois theory of linear differential equations over the difference-differential field $\mathbb{C}(x)$ with derivation $\frac{d}{dx}$ and endomorphism $f(x)\mapsto f(x+1)$. Our main result is that every linear algebraic group, considered as a difference algebraic group, occurs as the difference Galois group of some linear differential equation over $\mathbb{C}(x)$.