It is well known that linear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) can be mapped onto each other by an appropriate change of variables. This fact can be than used to find solutions of a given ODE (target ODE) as appropriately rescaled solutions of a different ODE (input ODE). There are basically three types of transformations that one can apply.
A change of abscissa $x \rightarrow \theta(x)$ and $d/d x \rightarrow 1/\theta^{'}(x) d/d x$,
A change of ordinate $y(x) \rightarrow m(x) y(x)$ ,
A gauge transformation $y(x) \rightarrow r_0(x) y(x) + r_1(x) y^{'}(x)$.
See [1] for a more detailed discussion of those notions.
In here we focused on the last possibility and found the following result.
Let $f(x)$ be a solution of the following ODE(the input ODE): \begin{equation} f^{''}(x) + Q(x) f(x)=0 \end{equation} Now define \begin{equation} g(x) := f(x) + \frac{1}{\int Q(x) dx} \cdot f^{'}(x) \end{equation} then the function $g(x)$ satisfies the following ODE(the target ODE): \begin{equation} g^{''}(x) + \left( \frac{Q'(x)}{\int Q(x) \, dx}+Q(x)-\frac{2 Q(x)^2}{(\int Q(x) \, dx)^2}\right) g(x)=0 \end{equation}
Likewise define: \begin{equation} h(x) := \left(\frac{f(x)}{x_0-x} + f^{'}(x)\right)\cdot \frac{1}{\sqrt{Q(x)}} \end{equation} then the function $h(x)$ satisfies the following ODE(the target ODE): \begin{equation} h^{''}(x) + \left(-\frac{3 Q'(x)^2}{4 Q(x)^2}+\frac{(x-x_0) Q''(x)-2 Q'(x)}{2 Q(x) (x-x_0)}+Q(x)-\frac{2}{(x-x_0)^2}\right) h(x)=0 \end{equation}
Finally define
\begin{equation} h_1(x) := \left(f(x) + \frac{\imath}{\sqrt{Q(x)}} \cdot f^{'}(x)\right) \cdot \frac{Q(x)^{3/4}}{\sqrt{Q^{'}(x)}} \end{equation}
then the function $h_1(x)$ satisfies the following ODE(the target ODE): \begin{equation} h_1^{''}(x) + \left( \frac{3 Q'(x)^2}{16 Q(x)^2}+\frac{3 i Q'(x)}{2 \sqrt{Q(x)}}-\frac{i \sqrt{Q(x)} Q''(x)}{Q'(x)}+\frac{2 Q^{(3)}(x) Q'(x)-3 Q''(x)^2}{4 Q'(x)^2}+Q(x)\right) h_1(x)=0 \end{equation}
As usual we verify those results with the help of Mathematica. We have:
In[433]:= Clear[Q]; Clear[g]; Clear[f]; x =.; x0 =.;
g[x_] := f[x] + 1/Integrate[Q[x], x] f'[x];
Simplify[(g''[
x] + (Q[x] - (2 Q[x]^2)/(\[Integral]Q[x] \[DifferentialD]x)^2 +
Derivative[1][Q][x]/\[Integral]Q[x] \[DifferentialD]x) g[
x]) /. { Derivative[2][f][x] :> -Q[x] f[x],
Derivative[3][f][x] :> -Q'[x] f[x] - Q[x] f'[x]}]
Clear[Q]; Clear[g]; Clear[f];
g[x_] := (f[x]/(x0 - x) + f'[x])/Sqrt[Q[x]];
Simplify[(g''[
x] + (Q[x] - 2/(x - x0)^2 - (3 Derivative[1][Q][x]^2)/(
4 Q[x]^2) + (-2 Derivative[1][Q][x] + (x - x0) (
Q^\[Prime]\[Prime])[x])/(2 (x - x0) Q[x])) g[x]) /. {
Derivative[2][f][x] :> -Q[x] f[x],
Derivative[3][f][x] :> -Q'[x] f[x] - Q[x] f'[x]}]
Clear[Q]; Clear[g]; Clear[f];
g[x_] := (f[x] + I/Sqrt[Q[x]] f'[x])/(Sqrt[Derivative[1][Q][x]]/Q[x]^(
3/4));
Simplify[(g''[
x] + (Q[x] + (3 I Derivative[1][Q][x])/(2 Sqrt[Q[x]]) + (
3 Derivative[1][Q][x]^2)/(16 Q[x]^2) - (
I Sqrt[Q[x]] (Q^\[Prime]\[Prime])[x])/
Derivative[1][Q][x] + (-3 (Q^\[Prime]\[Prime])[x]^2 +
2 Derivative[1][Q][x]
\!\(\*SuperscriptBox[\(Q\),
TagBox[
RowBox[{"(", "3", ")"}],
Derivative],
MultilineFunction->None]\)[x])/(4 Derivative[1][Q][x]^2)) g[x]) /. {
Derivative[2][f][x] :> -Q[x] f[x],
Derivative[3][f][x] :> -Q'[x] f[x] - Q[x] f'[x]}]
Out[435]= 0
Out[438]= 0
Out[441]= 0
Having said all this my question would be firstly are those results known and if yes what other possible gauge transformations can we come up with that lead to relatively simple target ODEs.
Update:
The result above is actually a special case of a more generic result. Let $f(x)$ satisfy the ODE as above. Now define \begin{equation} g(x) := \frac{f(x) + r_1(x) \cdot f^{'}(x)}{\sqrt{1+Q(x) r_1(x)^2 + r_1^{'}(x)}} \end{equation} Then the function $g(x)$ satisfies the following ODE: \begin{equation} g^{''}(x) + \frac{P(x)}{4\left( 1+Q(x) r_1(x)^2 + r_1^{'}(x)\right)^2} \cdot g(x)=0 \end{equation} where \begin{eqnarray} &&P(x):=\\ &&4 r_1(x) Q'(x) \left(3 r_1'(x)^2+4 r_1'(x)+1\right)+\\ &&-3 r_1(x)^4 Q'(x)^2+2 r_1(x)^2 \left(Q''(x) \left(r_1'(x)+1\right)-3 Q'(x) r_1''(x)\right)+\\ &&2 Q(x) \left(r_1(x)^4 Q''(x)+2 r_1(x)^3 Q'(x)+r_1^{(3)}(x) r_1(x)^2+6 r_1'(x)^3+12 r_1'(x)^2+8 r_1'(x)-6 r_1(x) r_1'(x) r_1''(x)+2\right)+\\ &&8 Q(x)^2 r_1(x)^2 \left(2 r_1'(x)+1\right)+4 Q(x)^3 r_1(x)^4+\\ &&2 r_1^{(3)}(x)-3 r_1''(x)^2+2 r_1^{(3)}(x) r_1'(x) \end{eqnarray}
Now if we take firstly $r_1^{'}(x) + Q(x) r_1(x)^2=0$ and secondly $r_1^{'}(x) + 1=0$ and thirdly $1+Q(x) r_1(x)^2=0$ then we get the first, the second and the third case respectively.
Now let us look at some particular cases.
Firstly we can also take $Q(x)=0$ then we immediately get the following interesting result: The ODE : \begin{eqnarray} g^{''}(x) + \frac{2 r_1^{(3)}(x)-3 r_1''(x)^2+2 r_1^{(3)}(x) r_1'(x)}{4\left( 1 + r_1^{'}(x)\right)^2} \cdot g(x)=0 \end{eqnarray} is solved by \begin{equation} g(x) = \frac{C_1+C_2(x+r_1(x))}{\sqrt{1+r_1^{'}(x)}} \end{equation}
Note that the result above can still be simplified by defining $u(x) := r_1^{''}(x)/(1+r^{'}(x))$. Then we have the following ODE: \begin{eqnarray} g^{''}(x) + \left( 1/2 u^{'}(x) - 1/4 u(x)^2\right) \cdot g(x)=0 \end{eqnarray} which is solved by: \begin{equation} g(x) = \frac{C_1+C_2\int \exp(\int u(x) dx) dx}{\sqrt{\exp(\int u(x) dx)}} \end{equation}
In[460]:= FullSimplify[(D[#, {x,
2}] + (1/2 u'[x] - 1/4 u[x]^2) #) & /@ {(C[1] +
C[2] (Integrate[Exp[Integrate[u[x], x]], x]))/
Sqrt[Exp[Integrate[u[x], x]]]}]
Out[460]= {0}
Secondly, we can take : \begin{eqnarray} Q(x)&=& \frac{B}{x^{2+n}}\\ r_1(x)&=& A x^{n+1} \end{eqnarray} Then define: \begin{eqnarray} {\mathfrak A}_0 &=&4 B\\ {\mathfrak A}_1 &=&4 A B (2 A B+3 n+2)\\ {\mathfrak A}_2&=&2 A \left(2 A^3 B^3+2 A^2 B^2 (3 n+2)+A B \left(5 n^2+5 n+2\right)+n \left(n^2-1\right)\right)\\ {\mathfrak A}_3&=&-A^2 n (n+2) (A B+n+1)^2 \end{eqnarray} Then we have that the ODE: \begin{eqnarray} g^{''}(x) + \left( \frac{{\mathfrak A_0} + {\mathfrak A_1} x^n + {\mathfrak A_2} x^{2 n} + {\mathfrak A_3} x^{3 n}}{4 x^{n+2} \left(A x^n (A B+n+1)+1\right)^2}\right) \cdot g(x)=0 \end{eqnarray}
is solved by: \begin{eqnarray} g(x) = C_+ \frac{y_+(x) + A x^{n+1} y_+^{'}(x)}{\sqrt{1+A(1+n+A B)x^n}} + C_- \frac{y_-(x) + A x^{n+1} y_-^{'}(x)}{\sqrt{1+A(1+n+A B)x^n}} \end{eqnarray} where \begin{equation} y_\pm(x)= \sqrt{x} J_{\pm\frac{1}{n}}\left(-2\frac{\sqrt{B}}{n} x^{-n/2} \right) \end{equation}
In[162]:= A =.; B =.; n =.; x =.; Clear[y]; Clear[g];
y1[x_] = Sqrt[x] BesselJ[1/n, -2 Sqrt[B]/n x^(-n/2)];
y2[x_] = Sqrt[x] BesselJ[-1/n, -2 Sqrt[B]/n x^(-n/2)];
eX = (D[#, {x, 2}] + ((
4 B + 4 A B (2 + 2 A B + 3 n) x^n +
2 A (2 A^3 B^3 + 2 A^2 B^2 (2 + 3 n) + n (-1 + n^2) +
A B (2 + 5 n + 5 n^2)) x^(2 n) -
A^2 n (2 + n) (1 + A B + n)^2 x^(3 n))/(
4 x^(2 + n) (1 + A (1 + A B + n) x^n)^2)) #) & /@ {(
y1[x] + A x^(n + 1) y1'[x])/Sqrt[A (1 + A B + n) x^n + 1] , (
y2[x] + A x^(n + 1) y2'[x])/Sqrt[A (1 + A B + n) x^n + 1]};
{A, B, n, x} = RandomReal[{0, 1}, 4, WorkingPrecision -> 50];
eX
Out[167]= {0.*10^-46 + 0.*10^-46 I, 0.*10^-48 + 0.*10^-47 I}
[1] M von Hoeij, R Debeerst, W Koepf, Solving differential equations in terms of Bessel functions, https://www.math.fsu.edu/~hoeij/papers.html