On the structure of certain $\Gamma$-difference modules

This is a largely expository paper, providing a self-contained account on the results of [Sch-Si1, Sch-Si2], in the cases denoted there 2Q and 2M. These papers of Schäfke and Singer supplied new proofs to the main theorems of [Bez-Bou, Ad-Be], on the rationality of power series satisfying a pair of independent q-difference, or Mahler, equations. We emphasize the language of Γ-difference modules, instead of difference equations or systems. Although in the two cases mentioned above this is only a semantic change, we also treat a new case, which may be labeled 1M1Q. Here the group Γ is generalized dihedral rather than abelian, and the language of equations is inadequate. In the last section we explain how to generalize the main theorems in case 2Q to finite characteristic.