A study on entire functions sharing one function with their difference operators and its application

Let $f$ be a transcendental entire function with hyper-order strictly less than 1 and having a Borel exceptional small function. If $f$ and $\Delta^n f$, or $f'$ and $f(z+1)$, share a function CM, then the exact form of $f$ is determined, which improves the previous results given by L\"u et al. [Results Math. 74, article number 30 (2019)] and Liu et al. [Bull. Korean Math. Soc. 51, 1453-1467 (2014)]. As an application, the relationship between $f$ and $\Delta^n f$ is established under the condition that they share a finite set, which partially resolves Liu's question raised in [J. Math. Anal. Appl. 359, 384-393 (2009)]. Furthermore, several examples are presented to demonstrate these results.