A new reliable algorithm based on the sinc function for the time fractional diffusion equation (Q306356)

The paper attempts to discuss a numerical method for the differential equation \(\partial^\alpha u(x, t) / \partial t^\alpha + u(x,t) = k \nabla^2 u(x,t) + f(x,t)\) for \(x \in \Omega\) and \(0 < t \leq T\) subject to the boundary condition \(u(x,t) = g(x,t)\) for \(x \in \partial \Omega\) and all \(t\) and the initial condition \(u(x,0) = w(x)\) for \(x \in \Omega\). The basic assumption is that \(0 < \alpha < 1\) and that the associated differential operator with respect to the time variable is defined in the Riemann-Liouville sense. The numerical approach is based on a sinc collocation approach in space and a standard finite difference approximation in time. It is well known (but ignored by the authors) that solutions to the given problem exist only if \(w \equiv 0\) or if \(f(x,t)\) becomes unbounded in a particular way as \(t \to 0\). The former assumption severely limits the set of problems to which the method can be applied, and the latter would have significant implications on the error analysis that are not discussed in the paper.