An inverse Sturm-Liouville problem with a fractional derivative

In this paper, we numerically investigate an inverse problem of recovering the potential term in a fractional Sturm-Liouville problem from one spectrum. The qualitative behaviors of the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions are discussed, and numerical reconstructions of the potential with a Newton method from finite spectral data are presented. Surprisingly, it allows very satisfactory reconstructions for both smooth and discontinuous potentials, provided that the order $\alpha\in(1,2)$ of fractional derivative is sufficiently away from 2.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Computational Physic

Fractional Sturm-Liouville eigenvalue problems, II

We continue the study of a non self-adjoint fractional three-term Sturm-Liouville boundary value problem (with a potential term) formed by the composition of a left Caputo and left-Riemann-Liouville fractional integral under {\it Dirichlet type} boundary conditions. We study the existence and asymptotic behavior of the real eigenvalues and show that for certain values of the fractional differentiation parameter $\alpha$, $0<\alpha<1$, there is a finite set of real eigenvalues and that, for $\alpha$ near $1/2$, there may be none at all. As $\alpha \to 1^-$ we show that their number becomes infinite and that the problem then approaches a standard Dirichlet Sturm-Liouville problem with the composition of the operators becoming the operator of second order differentiation

A matrix method for fractional Sturm-Liouville problems on bounded domain

A matrix method for the solution of direct fractional Sturm-Liouville problems on bounded domain is proposed where the fractional derivative is defined in the Riesz sense. The scheme is based on the application of the Galerkin spectral method of orthogonal polynomials. The order of convergence of the eigenvalue approximations with respect to the matrix size is studied. Some numerical examples that confirm the theory and prove the competitiveness of the approach are finally presented

A Finite Element Method for the Fractional Sturm-Liouville Problem

In this work, we propose an efficient finite element method for solving fractional Sturm-Liouville problems involving either the Caputo or Riemann-Liouville derivative of order $\alpha\in(1,2)$ on the unit interval $(0,1)$. It is based on novel variational formulations of the eigenvalue problem. Error estimates are provided for the finite element approximations of the eigenvalues. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the efficiency and accuracy of the method. The results indicate that the method can achieve a second-order convergence for both fractional derivatives, and can provide accurate approximations to multiple eigenvalues simultaneously.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figure