Eigenvalue problem of nonlinear semipositone higher order fractional differential equations (Q1938289)

Summary: We study the eigenvalue interval for the existence of positive solutions to the semipositone higher-order fractional differential equation \[ -\mathcal D^\mu_{\mathbf{t}} x(t) = \lambda f(t, x(t), \mathcal D^{\mu_1}_{\mathbf{t}} x(t), \mathcal D^{\mu_2}_{\mathbf{t}} x(t), \dotsc, \mathcal D^{\mu_{n-1}}_{\mathbf{t}} x(t)) \] \[ \mathcal D^{\mu_i}_{\mathbf{t}} x(0) = 0,\quad 1 \leq i \leq n - 1,\quad\mathcal D^{\mu_{n-1}+1}_{\mathbf{t}} x(0) = 0, \] \[ \mathcal D^{\mu_{n-1}}_{\mathbf{t}} x(1) = \sum^{m-2}_{j=1} a_j \mathcal D^{\mu_{n-1}}_{\mathbf{t}} x(\xi_j), \] where \(n - 1 < \mu \leq n\), \(n \geq 3\), \(0 < \mu_1 < \mu_2 < \dotsb < \mu_{n-2} < \mu_{n-1}\), \(n - 3 < \mu_{n-1} < \mu - 2, a_j \in \mathbb R\), \(0 < \xi_1 < \xi_2 < \dotsb < \xi_{m-2} < 1\) satisfying \(0 < \sum^{m-2}_{j=1} a_j \xi^{\mu - \mu_{n-1} - 1}_j < 1\), \(\mathcal D^\mu_{\mathbf{t}}\) is the standard Riemann-Liouville derivative, \(f \in C((0, 1) \times \mathbb R^n, (-\infty, +\infty))\), and \(f\) is allowed to be sign-changing. By using some order reducing method, the eigenvalue interval for the existence of positive solutions is obtained.