The relative approximation degree in valued function fields

Abstract: We continue the work of Kaplansky on immediate valued field extensions and determine special properties of elements in such extensions. In particular, we are interested in the question when an immediate valued function field of transcendence degree 1 is henselian rational (i.e., generated, modulo henselization, by one element). If so, then wild ramification can be eliminated in this valued function field. The results presented in this paper are crucial for the first author's proof of henselian rationality over tame fields, which in turn is used in his work on local uniformization.