Difference algebraic groups, i.e, groups defined by algebraic difference equations occur naturally as the Galois groups of linear differential or difference equations depending on a discrete parameter. If the linear equation has a full set of algebraic solutions, the corresponding Galois group is an étale difference algebraic group. Like étale algebraic groups can be described as finite groups with a continuous action of the absolute Galois group of the base field, étale difference algebraic groups can be described as certain profinite groups with some extra structure. I will present a decomposition theorem for étale difference algebraic groups, which shows that any étale difference algebraic group can be build from étale algebraic groups and finite groups equipped with an endomorphism.[-]

In the recent years, the nature of the generating series of walks in the quarter plane has attracted the attention of many authors in combinatorics and probability. The main questions are: are they algebraic, holonomic (solutions of linear differential equations) or at least hyperalgebraic (solutions of algebraic differential equations)? In this talk, we will show how the nature of the generating function can be approached via the study of a discrete functional equation over a curve E, of genus zero or one. In the first case, the functional equation corresponds to a so called q-difference equation and all the related generating series are differentially transcendental. For the genus one case, the dynamic of the functional equation corresponds to the addition by a given point P of the elliptic curve E. In that situation, one can relate the nature of the generating series to the fact that the point P is of torsion or not.[-]