Positive solutions for a boundary-value problem with Riemann-Liouville fractional derivative (Q1936270)

The authors study the existence of positive solutions for the fractional boundary-value problem \[ \begin{aligned} & D^{\alpha}_{0+}D^{\alpha}_{0+}u=f(t,u,u',-D^{\alpha}_{0+} u),\;t\in[0,1],\\ & u(0)=u'(0)=u'(1)=D^{\alpha}_{0+}u(0)=D^{\alpha+1}_{0+}u(0)=D^{\alpha+1}_{0+}u(1)=0.\end{aligned} \] Here, \(\alpha\in (2,3]\) is a real number, \(D^{\alpha}_{0+}\) is a standard Riemann-Liouville fractional derivative of order \(\alpha\). The results are obtained by using some inequalities associated with the fractional Green function for the above problem, without the assumption of the non-negativity of \(f\), and the Krasnosel'skii-Zabreiko fixed-point theorem. Here, the nonlinear term depends on \(u, u'\), and \(-D^{\alpha}_{0+}u\). Examples are provided to illustrate the results.