Positive and nondecreasing solutions to an \(m\)-point boundary value problem for nonlinear fractional differential equation (Q655611)

Summary: We are concerned with the existence and uniqueness of a positive and nondecreasing solution for the following nonlinear fractional \(m\)-point boundary value problem: \[ D^\alpha_{0^+} u(t) + f(t, u(t)) = 0,\;0 < t < 1, 2 < \alpha \leq 3, \] \[ u(0) = u'(0) = 0,\;u'(1) = \sum^{m-2}_{i=1} a_i u'(\xi_i), \] where \(D^\alpha_{0^+}\) denotes the standard Riemann-Liouville fractional derivative, \(f : [0, 1] \times [0, \infty) \rightarrow [0, \infty)\) is a continuous function, \(a_i \geq 0\) for \(i = 1, 2, \dots, m - 2\), and \(0 < \xi_1 < \xi_2 < \cdots < \xi_{m-2} < 1\). Our analysis relies on a fixed point theorem in partially ordered sets. Some examples are also presented to illustrate the main results.