Local density of solutions to fractional equations (Q2316669)

The book entitled treats the subjects of boundary behavior of solutions of both time- and space-fractional equations. In Chapter 1, the authors provide a series of simple examples in which fractional diffusion and fractional derivatives naturally arise and give a glimpse on how to use analytic methods to attack simple problems arising in concrete situations. In Section 2, the authors begin the mathematically rigorous part of this monograph, and start the presenting the main original mathematical results contained in this book and their relation with the existing literature. Especially, Theorem 2.1 is stated and highlighted. The remainder of this book is divided into follows: Chapter 3 focuses on time-fractional operators. More precisely, in Sections 3.1 and 3.2, the authors study the boundary behavior of the eigenfunctions of the Caputo derivative and of functions with vanishing Caputo derivative, respectively, detecting their singular boundary behavior in terms of explicit representation formulas. These type of results are interesting in themselves and can also find further applications. Chapter 4 is devoted to some properties of the higher order fractional Laplacian. More precisely, Section 4.1 provides some representation formula of the solution of \((-\Delta)^s u=f\) in a ball, with \(u=0\) outside this ball, for all \(s>0,\) and extends the Green formula methods introduced in [\textit{M. Di Paola} et al., Comput. Math. Appl. 66, No. 5, 608--620 (2013; Zbl 1381.74038)] and [\textit{N. Abatangelo} et al., Nonlinear Anal., Theory Methods Appl., Ser. A, Theory Methods 175, 173--190 (2018; Zbl 1397.35064)]. Then, in Section 4.2, the authors study the boundary behavior of the first Dirichlet eigenfunction of higher order fractional equations, and in Section 4.3 the authors give some precise asymptotics at the boundary for the first Dirichlet eigenfunction of \((-\Delta)^s\) for any \(s>0\). Section 4.4 is devoted to the analysis of the asymptotic behavior of \(s\)-harmonic functions, with a ``spherical bump function'' as exterior Dirichlet datum. Chapter 5 is devoted to the proof of the main result. To this end, Section 5.1 contains an auxiliary statement, namely, Theorem 5.1, which will imply Theorem 2.1. This is technically convenient, since the operator \(\Lambda_{a}\) depends in principle on the initial point \(a\). This has the disadvantage that if \(\Lambda_au_a=0\) and \(\Lambda_bu_b=0\) in some domain, the function \(u_a+u_b\) is not in principle a solution of any operator, unless \(a=b\). To overcome this difficulty, in Theorem 5.1 the authors will restrict themselves to the case in which \(a=-\infty\), exploiting a polynomial extension that the authors have introduced in and used in [\textit{M. Caputo}, Fract. Calc. Appl. Anal. 11, No. 1, 3--14 (2008; Zbl 1210.65130)]. In Section 5.2, the authors make the main step towards the proof of Theorem 5.1. Here, the authors prove that functions in the kernel of nonlocal operators such as the one in (2.8) span with their derivatives a maximal Euclidean space. This fact is special for the nonlocal case and its proof is based on the boundary analysis of the fractional operators in both time and space. Due to the general form of the operator in (2.8), the authors have to distinguish here several cases, taking advantage of either the time-fractional or the space-fractional components of the operators. Finally, in Section 5.3, the authors complete the proof of Theorem 5.1, using the previous approximation results and suitable rescaling arguments. The final appendix provides concrete examples in which their main result can be applied. The book is well written, presents the motivations for why studying such subject by showing meaning applications of the theory. The book also displays rigorous mathematical proofs for the various assertions contained in the book.