Fractional Differential Equations

The content of the book collects some contributions related to the talks presented during the INdAM Workshop "Fractional Differential Equations: Modelling, Discretization, and Numerical Solvers", held in Rome, Italy, on July 12–14, 2021. All contributions are original and not published elsewhere.

The main topic of the book is fractional calculus, a topic that addresses the study and application of integrals and derivatives of noninteger order. These operators, unlike the classic operators of integer order, are nonlocal operators and are better suited to describe phenomena with memory (with respect to time and/or space). Although the basic ideas of fractional calculus go back over three centuries, only in recent decades there has been a rapid increase in interest in this field of research due not only to the increasing use of fractional calculus in applications in biology, physics, engineering, probability, etc., but also thanks to the availability of new and more powerful numerical tools that allow for an efficient solution of problems that until a few years ago appeared unsolvable. The analytical solution of fractional differential equations (FDEs) appears even more difficult than in the integer case. Hence, numerical analysis plays a decisive role since practically every type of application of fractional calculus requires adequate numerical tools.

The aim of this book is therefore to collect and spread ideas mainly coming from the two communities of numerical analysts operating in this field - the one working on methods for the solution of differential problems and the one working on the numerical linear algebra side - to share knowledge and create synergies. At the same time, the book intends to realize a direct bridge between researchers working on applications and numerical analysts. Indeed, the book collects papers on applications, numerical methods for differential problems of fractional order, and related aspects in numerical linear algebra.