Submitted:
10 May 2023
Posted:
11 May 2023
You are already at the latest version
Abstract
We study the existence of positive solutions for a system of Hadamard fractional differential equations on an infinite interval with nonnegative nonlinearities, subject to coupled nonlocal boundary conditions which contain Hadamard fractional derivatives and Riemann-Stieltjes integrals. In the proof of the main results, we use the Guo-Krasnosel'skii fixed point theorem and the Leggett-Williams fixed point theorem.
Keywords:
Hadamard fractional differential equations
; nonlocal boundary conditions
; positive solutions
MSC: 34A08; 34B10; 34B15; 34B18
1. Introduction
We consider the system of nonlinear Hadamard fractional differential equations
supplemented with the nonlocal boundary conditions
where , , , , denotes the Hadamard fractional derivative of order (for ), the functions and verify some assumptions, (), and the integrals from (2) are Riemann-Stieltjes integrals with functions of bounded variation.
We will prove the existence of positive solutions of problem (1), (2) under some conditions on the data of problem, by using the Guo-Krasnosel’skii fixed point theorem and the Leggett-Williams fixed point theorem. By a positive solution of (1), (2) we mean a pair of functions satisfying (1) and (2), with , for all , and for all or for all . This problem is a generalization of the problem investigated in [13]. In the paper [13], the authors studied the system (1) with (), subject to the boundary conditions
where for , , , , and is the Hadamard fractional integral of order k with lower limit 1 for , defined by
(for a function ), (see [7]). The last conditions for ∞ from (3) are particular cases of our conditions from (2). Indeed we have
with , (), and , (), where
and
for and . Therefore, in our paper, we consider general orders for the fractional derivatives in the equations of system (1). Besides, in the boundary conditions (2), the fractional derivatives and for ∞ are dependent on both functions x and y, in comparison with the condition (3) from [13], where the derivative of x is dependent only of y, and the derivative of y is dependent only of x. In addition, the conditions (2) with Riemann-Stieltjes integrals generalize, as we saw before, the conditions (3). These aspects represent the novelties for our problem (1), (2).
In what follows we will present other fractional boundary value problems studied in the last years, and related to problem (1), (2), namely, some Hadamard fractional differential equations subject to various nonlocal boundary conditions. In [14], the authors studied the existence of nonnegative multiple solutions for the Hadamard fractional differential equation with integral boundary conditions
where , , and for all . In the proofs of the main results of [14], they applied Leggett-Williams and Guo-Krasnosel’skii fixed point theorems. In [16], by using the Banach fixed point theorem, the authors investigated the existence of the unique solution for the Hadamard fractional integro-differential equation subject to Hadamard fractional integral boundary conditions
where , , , and for all . In [15], the authors studied the existence of positive solutions for the nonlinear Hadamard fractional differential equation supplemented with Hadamard integral and multi-point boundary conditions
where , , , and for all . In the main theorems they used the monotone iterative method to find two "twin" positive solutions of the problem, and then they presented monotone iterative schemes convergent to a unique positive solution. In [17], the authors investigated the nonlinear Hadamard fractional differential equation with nonlocal boundary conditions
where , and for all , for all , . They studied the existence, uniqueness and multiplicity of positive solutions for problem (4), by using the Schauder fixed point theorem, the Banach contraction mapping principle, the monotone iterative method, and a fixed point theorem due to Avery and Peterson. In [18], the authors proved a generalization of a fixed point theorem due to Avery and Henderson, and then they applied it to problem (4) and proved the existence of at least three positive solutions of (4). We also mention the monographs [1,2,3,4,6,7,8,10,11,12,19] for various fractional differential equations and systems of fractional differential equations subject to diverse boundary conditions, and their applications in varied fields.
The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2 we present some preliminary results that will be used in the next section, including the solution for the corresponding linear problem, the Green functions and their properties. In Section 3 we give the main existence theorems for (1), (2), in Section 4 we present an example that illustrates the obtained results, and Section 5 contains the conclusions for our paper.
2. Auxiliary results
In this section we present some preliminary results that we will use in the next section.
Definition 1.
([7]) For a function , (), the left-sided Hadamard integral of fractional order with lower limit a is defined by
Definition 2.
([7]) For a function , (), the left-sided Hadamard fractional derivative of order with lower limit a is defined by
where .
For , then , where is the -derivative.
Lemma 1.
Lemma 2.
([7]) Let and . Then the Hadamard fractional differential equation has the solutions
and the following formula holds
where , and .
We consider now the system of fractional differential equations
where , subject to the boundary conditions (2). We denote by
Lemma 3.
Proof.
By Lemma 2 the solutions of system (5) are given by
with for , . Because and we deduce that and . So, by (8) we find
We have and . Then the last conditions from (2), namely and , for the solution (9), give us
or
The determinant of the above system in the unknowns and is , which by the assumption of this lemma is different from zero. So the above system has a unique solution, namely
Lemma 4.
Proof.
Based on the definitions of the functions , , we obtain easily the next lemma.
Lemma 5.
We assume that the functions are nondecreasing functions, , , and , and let . Then the functions and , have the following properties:
a) The functions and are continuous on ;
b)
c)
d) The functions are continuous on ;
e) for all and ;
f)
;
g)
;
h)
;
i)
;
j)
;
k)
;
l)
;
m)
.
Remark 1.
Under assumptions of Lemma 5 we find that and , so and .
We present now the fixed point theorems that we will use in the next section.
Let E be a real Banach space with the norm .
Definition 3.
A nonempty convex closed set is a cone if it satisfies the conditions:
a) if and , then ;
b) if and , then ,where 0 is the zero element of E.
A cone defines a partial ordering in E given by if and only if .
Definition 4.
An operator is compact if it maps bounded sets into relatively compact sets. An operator is completely continuous if it is continuous and compact.
Theorem 1.
(Guo-Krasnosels’kii fixed point theorem - the fixed point theorem of cone expansion and compression of norm type, [5]). Let E be a real Banach space with the norm , and let be a cone in E. Assume and are bounded open subsets of E with , and let be a completely continuous operator such that, either
i) , and , or
ii) and .Then has at least one fixed point in .
We consider a nonnegative continuous concave functional on the cone K, and . We define the convex sets , , by
and
.
Theorem 2.
(Leggett-Williams fixed point theorem, [9]) Let K be a cone in a real Banach space E and a nonnegative continuous concave functional on K satisfying for all , (). Suppose that is a completely continuous operator and there exist positive numbers such that
i) and for ;
ii) for ;
iii) for and .
Then A has at least three fixed points , and satisfying
3. Main results
We introduce the space
where , with the norm , the space
with the norm , and the space with the norm . The spaces , and are Banach spaces (see [14], Lemma 2.7).
Lemma 6.
([14], Lemma 2.8) Let be a bounded set, which satisfy the following conditions:
(i) The functions are equicontinuous on any compact interval of I;
(ii) For any , there exists a constant such that
Then Ω is relatively compact in .
We define now the positive cone by
and the operator by , where the operators and are defined by
for .
In what follows we present the basic assumptions that we will use in our main results.
- , , , , are nondecreasing functions, , , and .
- The functions , on any subinterval of , and are bounded on .
- The functions are not identical zero on any subinterval of , and , .
Lemma 7.
If hold, then the operator is completely continuous.
Proof.
Under the assumptions of this lemma, we have for all , that is . We will prove this lemma in four steps.
(I) We show firstly that the operator is uniformly bounded on . Let be a bounded set of . Then there exists such that , and so and for all . By , there exist and such that and for all . Then by , for any , we obtain
So
that is, operator is uniformly bounded.
(II) Next we will prove that is equicontinuous on any compact interval of I. We consider the interval , where . Then for any , with and , we have
For we deduce
Because the functions and are uniformly continuous on , respectively on , and the integrals , are convergent, we conclude that and as uniformly with respect to .
In a similar manner we obtain
uniformly with respect to . Then is equicontinuous on .
(III) In what follows we will show that is equiconvergent at ∞. We will prove firstly that is equiconvergent at ∞, that is, for any there exists such that for all , and we have
For this, let . Then there exists such that and . Because and , we deduce that there exist and such that for any we have
and for any and we have
Then we choose , and then for any and we obtain
So is equiconvergent at ∞. In a similar manner we show that is equiconvergent at ∞, and then we deduce that is equiconvergent at ∞.
(IV) In the last part of the proof we will prove that the operator is continuous. Let , in , for , that is
Then we deduce that for any , and , as .
Because
we obtain by the Lebesgue convergence theorem that
By using Lemma 5 and (13), we find
Then we deduce that as . In a similar manner we can prove that as . Therefore we obtain as . So the operator is continuous.
From the above steps and Lemma 6, we conclude that the operator is completely continuous. □
Now for we introduce the following constants
In our first main theorem we will prove the existence of at least one positive solution for problem (1), (2) by using the Guo-Krasnosel’skii fixed point theorem (Theorem 1).
Theorem 3.
We assume that hold, and there exists such that , , and , . In addition, we suppose that there exist positive constants with , and , , and such that
Proof.
By Lemma 7, the operator is completely continuous. We introduce the set . Then for , we have , so and , that is and for all .
Therefore by and Lemma 5, we obtain
In a similar manner we find
Therefore we deduce
which gives us
Now we introduce the set . Then for any , we have , and then and , that is and for all .
Then by and Lemma 5, we obtain
and
Then we deduce
that is
In a similar manner as we proved Theorem 3, we can obtain the following theorem.
Theorem 4.
We assume that hold, and there exists such that , , and , . In addition, we suppose that there exist positive constants with , and , , and such that
In what follows, we will prove the existence of at least three positive solutions for problem (1), (2) by applying the Leggett-Williams fixed point theorem (Theorem 2).
Theorem 5.
We assume that hold, and there exists such that , , and , . In addition, we suppose that there exist positive constants such that
Proof.
We show firstly that operator . For any , we have , and so , . Using the assumption and Lemma 5, we find
and
Then we obtain
so .
We consider , and we define the concave nonnegative continuous functional w on by
We see easily that for all .
Next we will verify the conditions of Theorem 2, with , , , , , , , . We verify first condition ii). For we will show that . For this, let . We obtain as in the above inequalities that
and so . Then we have assumption ii) of Theorem 2.
We verify condition i) from Theorem 2. We choose the element
Because , for all , and , we deduce that . Now, let , that is , and . So we have for all , and . Then by and Lemma 5, and similar computations as those from the first part of the proof of Theorem 3, we find
Therefore , and we have assumption i) of Theorem 2.
Now we verify condition iii) of Theorem 2, namely for and . So let and . By similar arguments used before we deduce that , that is assumption iii) is satisfied.
4. An example
Let , , , , , , , , , , , .
We consider the system of fractional differential equations
subject to the boundary conditions
By using Mathematica program, we obtain , , , , , , . So assumptions are satisfied. In addition, we take , and we deduce , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .
5. Conclusions
In this paper we investigate the system of nonlinear fractional differential equations (1) with Hadamard derivatives of various orders and , respectively, and nonnegative nonlinearities on the infinite interval . The system (1) is supplemented with general nonlocal boundary conditions (2), where the unknown functions x and y in the point 1 and their derivatives until orders and , respectively, are all 0, and the Hadamard derivatives of x and y of order and at ∞ are dependent on both Riemann-Liouville integrals of x and y. Our problem generalizes the problem studied in [13], by considering here different orders for the fractional derivatives in the equations of system (1), and also a general form of the boundary conditions from (2) at ∞. Under some assumptions on the data of this problem, we give firstly the solution of the associated linear boundary value problem, and the corresponding Green functions with their properties. Then in the main section of paper we prove the existence of positive solutions of (1), (2) by applying the Guo-Krasnosl’skii fixed point theorem and the Leggett-Williams fixed point theorem. We also present finally an example for illustrating our results.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, R.L.; Formal analysis, R.L. and A.T.; Methodology, R.L. and A.T. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This research received no external funding.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
References
- B. Ahmad, A. Alsaedi, S.K. Ntouyas, J. Tariboon, Hadamard-Type Fractional Differential Equations, Inclusions and Inequalities, Springer, Cham, Switzerland, 2017.
- B. Ahmad, J. Henderson, R. Luca, Boundary Value Problems for Fractional Differential Equations and Systems, Trends in Abstract and Applied Analysis 9, World Scientific, Hackensack, New Jersey, 2021.
- D. Baleanu, K. Diethelm, E. Scalas, J.J. Trujillo, Fractional Calculus Models and Numerical Methods. Series on Complexity, Nonlinearity and Chaos, World Scientific, Boston, 2012.
- S. Das, Functional Fractional Calculus for System Identification and Controls, Springer, New York, 2008.
- D. Guo, V. Lakshmikantham, Nonlinear Problems in Abstract Cones, Academic Press, New York, 1988.
- J. Henderson, R. Luca, Boundary Value Problems for Systems of Differential, Difference and Fractional Equations. Positive Solutions, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2016.
- A.A. Kilbas, H.M. Srivastava, J.J. Trujillo, Theory and Applications of Fractional Differential Equations, North-Holland Mathematics Studies, 204, Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, 2006.
- J. Klafter, S.C. Lim, R. Metzler (Eds.), Fractional Dynamics in Physics, Singapore, World Scientific, 2011.
- R. Leggett, L. Williams, Multiple positive fixed points of nonlinear operators on ordered Banach spaces, Indiana Univ. Math. J., 28 (1979), 673-688.
- I. Podlubny, Fractional Differential Equations, Academic Press, San Diego, 1999.
- J. Sabatier, O.P. Agrawal, J.A.T. Machado (Eds.), Advances in Fractional Calculus: Theoretical Developments and Applications in Physics and Engineering, Springer, Dordrecht, 2007.
- S.G. Samko, A.A. Kilbas, O.I. Marichev, Fractional Integrals and Derivatives. Theory and Applications, Gordon and Breach, Yverdon, 1993.
- J. Tariboon, S.K. Ntouyas, S. Asawasamrit, C. Promsakon, Positive solutions for Hadamard differential systems with fractional integral conditions on an unbounded domain, Open Math., 15, (2017), 645-666.
- P. Thiramanus, S.K. Ntouyas, J. Tariboon, Positive solutions for Hadamard fractional differential equations on infinite domain, Adv. Difference Equ., 2016:83, (2016), 1-18.
- G. Wang, K. Pei, R.P. Agarwal. L. Zhang, B. Ahmad, Nonlocal Hadamard fractional boundary value problem with Hadamard integral and discrete boundary conditions on a half-line, J. Comput. Appl. Math., 343, (2018), 230-239.
- G. Wang, K. Pei, D. Baleanu, Explicit iteration to Hadamard fractional integro-differential equations on infinite domain, Adv. Difference Equ., 2016:299, (2016), 1-11.
- W. Zhang, W. Liu, Existence, uniqueness, and multiplicity results on positive solutions for a class of Hadamard-type fractional boundary value problem on an infinite interval, Math. Meth. Appl. Sci., 43, (2020), 2251-2275.
- W. Zhang, J. Ni, New multiple positive solutions for Hadamard-type fractional differential equations with nonlocal conditions on an infinite interval, Appl. Math. Letters, 118 (107165), (2021), 1-10.
- Y. Zhou, J.R. Wang, L. Zhang, Basic Theory of Fractional Differential Equations (Second Edition), World Scientific, Singapore, 2016.
Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content. |
© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Copyright: This open access article is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which permit the free download, distribution, and reuse, provided that the author and preprint are cited in any reuse.