Analysis of one-sided 1-D fractional diffusion operator (Q2136180)

This paper considers a special case of a one-dimensional fractional diffusion advection reaction equation whose solution lacks regularity: \[ \begin{cases} (Au)(x)=f, \quad x \in \Omega=(a,b),\\ u(a) = u(b)=0,\\ (Au)(x):=-D_aD_x^{-(1-\mu)}Du. \end{cases}\tag{1} \] The aim of this work is to show that in spite of lack of regularity, the solution of the one-dimensional fractional diffusion advection reaction equation still maintains elliptic properties. Thus, the work extends the elliptic theory from classic integer-order diffusion equation to one-sided 1-D fractional-order diffusion equation. The authors achieve the aim of the work in the following ways: They prove the existence of a weak solution of the equation in a complex valued Sobolev space \(\hat{H}_0^s\), \(s=\frac{1+\mu}{2}\). Using the spectral problem \[ \begin{cases} Au=\lambda u, \quad x\in \Omega, \\ u(a)=u(b)=0. \end{cases}\tag{2} \] The authors present a relationship between the eigenvalues and the complex roots of Mittag-Leffler functions. This is done by proving the following corollaries: Corollary 1. \(\lambda\) is a root of \(E_{1+\mu,1+\mu}[\lambda]\) if and only if \(-\lambda\) is an eigenvalue of (2) with choosing the interval \((a, b)=(0, 1)\). Corollary 2. In the complex plane, there are only finite many roots of \(E_{1+\mu,1+\mu}[z]\) in any fixed disk \(D:=\{z \in \mathbb{C}:|z|\leq r\}, \ r \in \mathbb{R}^+\). The work was able to show that the following properties of the solution \(u\) of (2): \begin{itemize} \item[1] \(u>0\) in \(\Omega\). (maximum principle) \item [2] \(\lim _{x \to a^+}Du=+\infty\) and \(\lim _{x \to b^-}Du=Du(b)<0\). (Hopf's lemma) \end{itemize} The authors also show that the principle eigenvalue is real and is the smallest one. They give three characterization of the principal eigenvalue which are stated in equations (7.1), (7.2) and (7.3) of the work. Finally, the authors using numerical experiments are able to: \begin{itemize} \item[1] confirm the existence of the first (smallest in absolute value) real root of \(E_{1+\mu, 1+\mu}[z]\). \item[2] show by varying \(\mu\), the distribution of the principal eigenvalue of \[ \begin{cases} Au=\lambda u, \quad \text{in } (0,1),\\ u(0)=u(1)=0. \end{cases} \] \end{itemize}