Lattice fractional Laplacian and its continuum limit kernel on the finite cyclic chain

TL;DR

This paper derives a discrete fractional Laplacian matrix for a finite cyclic chain and its continuum limit kernel, providing explicit formulas and establishing scaling relations for parameters to connect lattice and continuum models.

Contribution

It introduces a discrete fractional Laplacian matrix on finite periodic chains and derives its continuum limit kernel, linking lattice fractional calculus to classical fractional derivatives.

Findings

Explicit fractional Laplacian matrix for finite cyclic chains

Exact continuum limit kernel for the fractional Laplacian

Scaling relations for lattice parameters in the continuum limit

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to deduce a discrete version of the fractional Laplacian in matrix form defined on the 1D periodic (cyclically closed) linear chain of finite length.We obtain explicit expressions for this fractional Laplacianmatrix and deduce also its periodic continuum limit kernel. The continuum limit kernel gives an exact expression for the fractional Laplacian (Riesz fractional derivative) on the finite periodic string.In this approach we introduce two material parameters, the particle mass $\mu$ anda frequency $\Omega\_{\alpha}$. The requirement of finiteness of the the total mass and total elastic energy in the continuum limit (lattice constant $h\rightarrow 0$) leads to scaling relations for the two parameters, namely$\mu \sim h$ and $\Omega\_{\alpha}^2\sim h^{-\alpha}$.The present approach can be generalized to define lattice fractional calculus on periodic lattices in full analogy to the usual `continuous' fractional calculus.