Discrete Fractional Calculus

This text provides the first comprehensive treatment of the discrete fractional calculus. Experienced researchers will find the text useful as a reference for discrete fractional calculus and topics of current interest. Students who are interested in learning about discrete fractional calculus will find this text to provide a useful starting point. Several exercises are offered at the end of each chapter and select answers have been provided at the end of the book. The presentation of the content is designed to give ample flexibility for potential use in a myriad of courses and for independent study. The novel approach taken by the authors includes a simultaneous treatment of the fractional- and integer-order difference calculus (on a variety of time scales, including both the usual forward and backwards difference operators). The reader will acquire a solid foundation in the classical topics of the discrete calculus while being introduced to exciting recent developments, bringing them to the frontiers of the subject. Most chapters may be covered or omitted, depending upon the background of the student. For example, the text may be used as a primary reference in an introductory course for difference equations which also includes discrete fractional calculus. Chapters 1—2 provide a basic introduction to the delta calculus including fractional calculus on the set of integers. For courses where students already have background in elementary real analysis, Chapters 1—2 may be covered quickly and readers may then skip to Chapters 6—7 which present some basic results in fractional boundary value problems (FBVPs). Chapters 6—7 in conjunction with some of the current literature listed in the Bibliography can provide a basis for a seminar in the current theory of FBVPs. For a two-semester course, Chapters 1—5 may be covered in depth, providing a very thorough introduction to both the discrete fractional calculus as well as the integer-order calculus.

This brief aims to merge the theories of fractional calculus and discrete calculus in a concise but comprehensive manner. It is designed for graduate students, but will be useful for any researcher interested in the theory of discrete fractional calculus and fractional difference equations.

The main subject of the monograph is the fractional calculus in the discrete version. The volume is divided into three main parts. Part one contains a theoretical introduction to the classical and fractional-order discrete calculus where the fundamental role is played by the backward difference and sum. In the second part, selected applications of the discrete fractional calculus in the discrete system control theory are presented. In the discrete system identification, analysis and synthesis, one can consider integer or fractional models based on the fractional-order difference equations. The third part of the book is devoted to digital image processing.

"Fractional Dynamics: Applications of Fractional Calculus to Dynamics of Particles, Fields and Media" presents applications of fractional calculus, integral and differential equations of non-integer orders in describing systems with long-time memory, non-local spatial and fractal properties. Mathematical models of fractal media and distributions, generalized dynamical systems and discrete maps, non-local statistical mechanics and kinetics, dynamics of open quantum systems, the hydrodynamics and electrodynamics of complex media with non-local properties and memory are considered. This book is intended to meet the needs of scientists and graduate students in physics, mechanics and applied mathematics who are interested in electrodynamics, statistical and condensed matter physics, quantum dynamics, complex media theories and kinetics, discrete maps and lattice models, and nonlinear dynamics and chaos. Dr. Vasily E. Tarasov is a Senior Research Associate at Nuclear Physics Institute of Moscow State University and an Associate Professor at Applied Mathematics and Physics Department of Moscow Aviation Institute.

This book fills a gap in the literature by introducing numerical techniques to solve problems of fractional calculus of variations (FCV). In most cases, finding the analytic solution to such problems is extremely difficult or even impossible, and numerical methods need to be used.The authors are well-known researchers in the area of FCV and the book contains some of their recent results, serving as a companion volume to Introduction to the Fractional Calculus of Variations by A B Malinowska and D F M Torres, where analytical methods are presented to solve FCV problems. After some preliminaries on the subject, different techniques are presented in detail with numerous examples to help the reader to better understand the methods. The techniques presented may be used not only to deal with FCV problems but also in other contexts of fractional calculus, such as fractional differential equations and fractional optimal control. It is suitable as an advanced book for graduate students in mathematics, physics and engineering, as well as for researchers interested in fractional calculus.

This invaluable book provides a broad introduction to the fascinating and beautiful subject of Fractional Calculus of Variations (FCV). In 1996, FVC evolved in order to better describe non-conservative systems in mechanics. The inclusion of non-conservatism is extremely important from the point of view of applications. Forces that do not store energy are always present in real systems. They remove energy from the systems and, as a consequence, Noether's conservation laws cease to be valid. However, it is still possible to obtain the validity of Noether's principle using FCV. The new theory provides a more realistic approach to physics, allowing us to consider non-conservative systems in a natural way. The authors prove the necessary Euler–Lagrange conditions and corresponding Noether theorems for several types of fractional variational problems, with and without constraints, using Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms. Sufficient optimality conditions are also obtained under convexity, and Leitmann's direct method is discussed within the framework of FCV. The book is self-contained and unified in presentation. It may be used as an advanced textbook by graduate students and ambitious undergraduates in mathematics and mechanics. It provides an opportunity for an introduction to FCV for experienced researchers. The explanations in the book are detailed, in order to capture the interest of the curious reader, and the book provides the necessary background material required to go further into the subject and explore the rich research literature.

This book is devoted to the application of fractional calculus in economics to describe processes with memory and non-locality. Fractional calculus is a branch of mathematics that studies the properties of differential and integral operators that are characterized by real or complex orders. Fractional calculus methods are powerful tools for describing the processes and systems with memory and nonlocality. Recently, fractional integro-differential equations have been used to describe a wide class of economical processes with power law memory and spatial nonlocality. Generalizations of basic economic concepts and notions the economic processes with memory were proposed. New mathematical models with continuous time are proposed to describe economic dynamics with long memory. This book is a collection of articles reflecting the latest mathematical and conceptual developments in mathematical economics with memory and non-locality based on applications of fractional calculus.

The first volume of this two-volume book, presents history, the mathematical modelling and the applications of fractional order systems, and contains mathematical and theoretical studies and research related to this domain. This volume is made up of 11 chapters. The first chapter presents an analysis of the Caputo derivative and the pseudo state representation with the infinite state approach. The second chapter studies the stability of a class of fractional Cauchy problems. The third chapter shows how to solve fractional order differential equations and fractional order partial differential equations using modern matrix algebraic approaches. Following this chapter, chapter four proposes another analytical method to solve differential equations with local fractional derivative operators. Concerning chapter five, it presents the extended Borel transform and its related fractional analysis. After presenting the analytical resolution methods for fractional calculus, chapter six shows the essentials of fractional calculus on discrete settings. The initialisation of such systems is shown in chapter seven. In fact, this chapter presents a generalised application of the Hankel operator for initialisation of fractional order systems. The last four chapters show some new studies and applications of non-integer calculus. In fact, chapter eight presents the fractional reaction-transport equations and evanescent continuous time random walks. Chapter nine shows a novel approach in the exponential integrators for fractional differential equations. Chapter ten presents the non-fragile tuning of fractional order PD controllers for integrating time delay systems. At the end, chapter eleven proposes a discrete finite-dimensional approximation of linear infinite dimensional systems. To sum up, this volume presents a mathematical and theoretical study of fractional calculus along with a stability study and some applications. This volume ends up with some new techniques and methods applied in fractional calculus. This volume will be followed up by a second volume that focuses on the applications of fractional calculus in several engineering domains.