Initial-boundary-value problems for the one-dimensional time-fractional diffusion equation

Abstract: In this paper, some initial-boundary-value problems for the time-fractional diffusion equation are first considered in open bounded n-dimensional domains. In particular, the maximum principle well-known for the PDEs of elliptic and parabolic types is extended for the time-fractional diffusion equation. In its turn, the maximum principle is used to show uniqueness of solution to the initial-boundary-value problems for the time-fractional diffusion equation. The generalized solution in sense of Vladimirov is then constructed in form of a Fourier series with respect to the eigenfunctions of a certain Sturm-Liouville eigenvalue problem. For the one-dimensional time-fractional diffusion equation $$ (D_t^{\alpha} u)(t) = \frac{\partial}{\partial x}(p(x) \frac{\partial u}{\partial x}) -q(x)\, u + F(x,t),\ \ x\in (0,l),\ t\in (0,T) $$ the generalized solution to the initial-boundary-value problem with the Dirichlet boundary conditions is shown to be a solution in the classical sense. Properties of the solution are investigated including its smoothness and asymptotics for some special cases of the source function.