Fractional derivatives and the fundamental theorem of Fractional Calculus

TL;DR

This paper explores the fundamental theorem of fractional calculus, clarifies the relationships among known fractional derivatives, and introduces new families of derivatives that are inverses of fractional integrals.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of fractional derivatives, clarifies their interconnections, and introduces new families of derivatives as inverses of fractional integrals.

Findings

Identified the unique family of Riemann-Liouville fractional integrals.

Clarified relationships between Riemann-Liouville, Caputo, and Hilfer derivatives.

Discovered infinitely many new fractional derivatives as inverses of fractional integrals.

Abstract

In this paper, we address the one-parameter families of the fractional integrals and derivatives defined on a finite interval. First we remind the reader of the known fact that under some reasonable conditions, there exists precisely one unique family of the fractional integrals, namely, the well-known Riemann-Liouville fractional integrals. As to the fractional derivatives, their natural definition follows from the fundamental theorem of the Fractional Calculus, i.e., they are introduced as the left-inverse operators to the Riemann-Liouville fractional integrals. Until now, three families of such derivatives were suggested in the literature: the Riemann-Liouville fractional derivatives, the Caputo fractional derivatives, and the Hilfer fractional derivatives. We clarify the interconnections between these derivatives on different spaces of functions and provide some of their properties including the formulas for their projectors and the Laplace transforms. However, it turns out that there exist infinitely many other families of the fractional derivatives that are the left-inverse operators to the Riemann-Liouville fractional integrals. In this paper, we focus on an important class of these fractional derivatives and discuss some of their properties.