Positive solutions to nonlinear higher-order nonlocal boundary value problems for fractional differential equations (Q610865)

Summary: We study the existence of positive solutions to nonlinear higher-order nonlocal boundary value problems corresponding to fractional differential equations of the type \[ ^c{\mathcal D}^\delta_{0+}u(t)+f(t,u(t))=0,\quad 0<t<1, \] \[ u(1)=\beta u(\eta)+\lambda_2,\;u'(0)=\alpha u'(\eta)-\lambda_1,\quad u''(0)=0,\;u'''(0)=0,\dots, u^{(n-1)}(0)=0, \] where, \(n-1<\delta<n\), \(n(\geq 3)\in\mathbb N\), \(0<\eta,\alpha,\beta<1\), the boundary parameters \(\lambda_1,\lambda_2\in\mathbb R^+\) and \(^cD^\delta_{0+}\) is the Caputo fractional derivative. We use classical tools from functional analysis to obtain sufficient conditions for the existence and uniqueness of positive solutions to the boundary value problems. We also obtain conditions for the nonexistence of positive solutions to the problem. We include examples to show the applicability of our results.