Differential Algebra and Liouvillian first integrals of foliations

Intuitively, a complex Liouvillian function is one that is obtained from complex rational functions by a finite process of integrations, exponentiations and algebraic operations. In the framework of ordinary differential equations the study of equations admitting Liouvillian solutions is related to the study of ordinary differential equations that can be integrated by the use of elementary functions, that is, functions appearing in the Differential Calculus. A more precise and geometrical approach to this problem naturally leads us to consider the theory of foliations. This paper is devoted to the study of foliations that admit a Liouvillian first integral. We study holomorphic foliations (of dimension or codimension one) that admit a Liouvillian first integral. We extend results of Singer (1992) [20], related to Camacho and Scárdua (2001) [4], to foliations on compact manifolds, Stein manifolds, codimension-one projective foliations and germs of foliations as well.