On a Lyapunov-type inequality and the zeros of a certain Mittag-Leffler function (Q2019180)

In the first part of this work, a Lyapunov-type inequality is obtained for a fractional differential boundary value problem. More precisely,it is proved that if a nontrivial continuous solution of the problem \[ (^C_a D^\alpha y)(t) + q(t)y(t) = 0, \;a < t < b, \;\;y(a) = y(b) = 0 \] exists, then \[ \displaystyle \int_a^b | q(s) | \;ds > \displaystyle \frac{\Gamma (\alpha) \alpha^\alpha}{[(\alpha -1)(b- a)]^{\alpha-1}}. \] Here \((^C_a D^\alpha y)\) is the Caputo fractional derivative of order \(\alpha \geq 0,\) \(q\) is a real and continuous function and the Lyapunov's classical inequality is obtained when \(\alpha =2.\) A key point in the proof is to write the previous boundary value problem in its equivalent integral form. After, the author shows how the previous inequality can be use to obtain an interval in which the Mittag-Leffler function \[ E_{\alpha} (z) = \displaystyle \sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \frac{z^k}{\Gamma (k\alpha + 2)}, \;z \in \mathbb{C}, \;1 < \alpha \leq 2, \] has no real zeros.