On the Malliavin-Rubel theorem on small entire functions of exponential type with given zeros

Abstract

In the early 1960s, P. Malliavin and L. A. Rubel gave a complete description of pairs of distributions of positive points $Z$ and $W$ such that for each entire function of exponential type $g\neq 0$ that vanishes on $W$, there is an entire function of exponential type $f\neq 0$ such that $f$ vanishes on $Z$ and satisfies the inequality $|f|\leq |g|$ everywhere on the imaginary axis. We extend this result to much more general distributions of complex points $Z$ and $W$ lying outside of some pair of vertical angles containing the imaginary axis as the points approach $\infty$.