Existence and uniqueness of solution for a class of nonlinear fractional order differential equations (Q448760)

Summary: We discuss the existence and uniqueness of solutions to nonlinear fractional order ordinary differential equations \[ (\mathcal D^\alpha - \rho t \mathcal D^\beta)x(t) = f(t, x(t), \mathcal D^\gamma x(t)),\quad t \in (0, 1) \] with boundary conditions \[ x(0) = x_0,\quad x(1) = x_1 \] or satisfying the initial conditions \[ x(0) = 0,\quad x'(0) = 1, \] where \(\mathcal D^\alpha\) denotes the Caputo fractional derivative, \(\rho\) is constant, \(1 < \alpha < 2\), and \(0 < \beta + \gamma \leq \alpha\). Schauder's fixed-point theorem is used to establish the existence of a solution. Banach's contraction principle is used to show the uniqueness of the solution under certain conditions on \(f\).