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In mathematics, the Caputo fractional derivative, also called Caputo-type fractional derivative, is a generalization of derivatives for non-integer orders named after Michele Caputo. Caputo first defined this form of fractional derivative in 1967.

Motivation

The Caputo fractional derivative is motivated from the Riemann–Liouville fractional integral. Let ${\textstyle f}$ be continuous on ${\displaystyle \left(0,\,\infty \right)}$, then the Riemann–Liouville fractional integral ${\textstyle {^{\text{RL}}\operatorname {I} }}$ states that

$${\displaystyle {_{0}^{\text{RL}}\operatorname {I} _{x}^{\alpha }}\left={\frac {1}{\Gamma \left(-\alpha \right)}}\cdot \int \limits _{0}^{x}{\frac {f\left(t\right)}{\left(x-t\right)^{1-\alpha }}}\,\operatorname {d} t}$$

where ${\textstyle \Gamma \left(\cdot \right)}$ is the Gamma function.

Let's define ${\textstyle \operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }:={\frac {\operatorname {d} ^{\alpha }}{\operatorname {d} x^{\alpha }}}}$, say that ${\textstyle \operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\beta }=\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha +\beta }}$ and that ${\textstyle \operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }={^{\text{RL}}\operatorname {I} _{x}^{-\alpha }}}$ applies. If ${\textstyle \alpha =m+z\in \mathbb {R} \wedge m\in \mathbb {N} _{0}\wedge 0<z<1}$ then we could say ${\textstyle \operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }=\operatorname {D} _{x}^{m+z}=\operatorname {D} _{x}^{z+m}=\operatorname {D} _{x}^{z-1+1+m}=\operatorname {D} _{x}^{z-1}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{1+m}={^{\text{RL}}\operatorname {I} }_{x}^{1-z}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{1+m}}$. So if ${\displaystyle f}$ is also ${\displaystyle C^{m}\left(0,\,\infty \right)}$, then

$${\displaystyle {\operatorname {D} _{x}^{m+z}}\left={\frac {1}{\Gamma \left(1-z\right)}}\cdot \int \limits _{0}^{x}{\frac {f^{\left(1+m\right)}\left(t\right)}{\left(x-t\right)^{z}}}\,\operatorname {d} t.}$$

This is known as the Caputo-type fractional derivative, often written as ${\textstyle {^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} }_{x}^{\alpha }}$.

Definition

The first definition of the Caputo-type fractional derivative was given by Caputo as:

$${\displaystyle {^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{m+z}}\left={\frac {1}{\Gamma \left(1-z\right)}}\cdot \int \limits _{0}^{x}{\frac {f^{\left(m+1\right)}\left(t\right)}{\left(x-t\right)^{z}}}\,\operatorname {d} t}$$

where ${\displaystyle C^{m}\left(0,\,\infty \right)}$ and ${\textstyle m\in \mathbb {N} _{0}\wedge 0<z<1}$.

A popular equivalent definition is:

$${\displaystyle {^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }}\left={\frac {1}{\Gamma \left(\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil -\alpha \right)}}\cdot \int \limits _{0}^{x}{\frac {f^{\left(\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil \right)}\left(t\right)}{\left(x-t\right)^{\alpha +1-\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil }}}\,\operatorname {d} t}$$

where ${\textstyle \alpha \in \mathbb {R} _{>0}\setminus \mathbb {N} }$ and ${\textstyle \left\lceil \cdot \right\rceil }$ is the ceiling function. This can be derived by substituting ${\textstyle \alpha =m+z}$ so that ${\textstyle \left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil =m+1}$ would apply and ${\textstyle \left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil +z=\alpha +1}$ follows.

Another popular equivalent definition is given by:

$${\displaystyle {^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }}\left={\frac {1}{\Gamma \left(n-\alpha \right)}}\cdot \int \limits _{0}^{x}{\frac {f^{\left(n\right)}\left(t\right)}{\left(x-t\right)^{\alpha +1-n}}}\,\operatorname {d} t}$$

where ${\textstyle n-1<\alpha <n\in \mathbb {N} .}$.

The problem with these definitions is that they only allow arguments in ${\textstyle \left(0,\,\infty \right)}$. This can be fixed by replacing the lower integral limit with ${\textstyle a}$: ${\textstyle {_{a}^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }}\left={\frac {1}{\Gamma \left(\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil -\alpha \right)}}\cdot \int \limits _{a}^{x}{\frac {f^{\left(\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil \right)}\left(t\right)}{\left(x-t\right)^{\alpha +1-\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil }}}\,\operatorname {d} t}$. The new domain is ${\textstyle \left(a,\,\infty \right)}$.

Properties and theorems

Basic properties and theorems

A few basic properties are:

A table of basic properties and theorems

Properties	${\displaystyle f\left(x\right)}$	${\displaystyle {_{a}^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }}\left}$	Condition
Definition	${\displaystyle f\left(x\right)}$	${\displaystyle f^{\left(\alpha \right)}\left(x\right)-f^{\left(\alpha \right)}\left(a\right)}$
Linearity	${\displaystyle b\cdot g\left(x\right)+c\cdot h\left(x\right)}$	${\displaystyle b\cdot {_{a}^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }}\left+c\cdot {_{a}^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }}\left}$
Index law	${\displaystyle \operatorname {D} _{x}^{\beta }}$	${\displaystyle {_{a}^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha +\beta }}}$	${\displaystyle \beta \in \mathbb {Z} }$
Semigroup property	${\displaystyle {_{a}^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\beta }}}$	${\displaystyle {_{a}^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha +\beta }}}$	${\displaystyle \left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil =\left\lceil \beta \right\rceil }$

Non-commutation

The index law does not always fulfill the property of commutation:

$${\displaystyle \operatorname {_{a}^{\text{C}}D} _{x}^{\alpha }\operatorname {_{a}^{\text{C}}D} _{x}^{\beta }=\operatorname {_{a}^{\text{C}}D} _{x}^{\alpha +\beta }\neq \operatorname {_{a}^{\text{C}}D} _{x}^{\beta }\operatorname {_{a}^{\text{C}}D} _{x}^{\alpha }}$$

where ${\displaystyle \alpha \in \mathbb {R} _{>0}\setminus \mathbb {N} \wedge \beta \in \mathbb {N} }$.

Fractional Leibniz rule

The Leibniz rule for the Caputo fractional derivative is given by:

$${\displaystyle \operatorname {_{a}^{\text{C}}D} _{x}^{\alpha }\left=\sum \limits _{k=0}^{\infty }\left\right]-{\frac {\left(x-a\right)^{-\alpha }}{\Gamma \left(1-\alpha \right)}}\cdot g\left(a\right)\cdot h\left(a\right)}$$

where ${\textstyle {\binom {a}{b}}={\frac {\Gamma \left(a+1\right)}{\Gamma \left(b+1\right)\cdot \Gamma \left(a-b+1\right)}}}$ is the binomial coefficient.

Relation to other fractional differential operators

Caputo-type fractional derivative is closely related to the Riemann–Liouville fractional integral via its definition:

$${\displaystyle {_{a}^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }}\left={_{a}^{\text{RL}}\operatorname {I} _{x}^{\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil -\alpha }}\left\right]}$$

Furthermore, the following relation applies:

$${\displaystyle {_{a}^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }}\left={_{a}^{\text{RL}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }}\left-\sum \limits _{k=0}^{\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil }\left}$$

where ${\displaystyle {_{a}^{\text{RL}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }}}$ is the Riemann–Liouville fractional derivative.

Laplace transform

The Laplace transform of the Caputo-type fractional derivative is given by:

$${\displaystyle {\mathcal {L}}_{x}\left\{{_{a}^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }}\left\right\}\left(s\right)=s^{\alpha }\cdot F\left(s\right)-\sum \limits _{k=0}^{\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil }\left}$$

where ${\textstyle {\mathcal {L}}_{x}\left\{f\left(x\right)\right\}\left(s\right)=F\left(s\right)}$.

Caputo fractional derivative of some functions

The Caputo fractional derivative of a constant ${\displaystyle c}$ is given by:

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}{_{a}^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }}\left&={\frac {1}{\Gamma \left(\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil -\alpha \right)}}\cdot \int \limits _{a}^{x}{\frac {\operatorname {D} _{t}^{\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil }\left}{\left(x-t\right)^{\alpha +1-\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil }}}\,\operatorname {d} t={\frac {1}{\Gamma \left(\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil -\alpha \right)}}\cdot \int \limits _{a}^{x}{\frac {0}{\left(x-t\right)^{\alpha +1-\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil }}}\,\operatorname {d} t\\{_{a}^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }}\left&=0\end{aligned}}}$$

The Caputo fractional derivative of a power function ${\displaystyle x^{b}}$ is given by:

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}{_{a}^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }}\left&={_{a}^{\text{RL}}\operatorname {I} _{x}^{\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil -\alpha }}\left\right]={\frac {\Gamma \left(b+1\right)}{\Gamma \left(b-\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil +1\right)}}\cdot {_{a}^{\text{RL}}\operatorname {I} _{x}^{\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil -\alpha }}\left\\{_{a}^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }}\left&={\begin{cases}{\frac {\Gamma \left(b+1\right)}{\Gamma \left(b-\alpha +1\right)}}\left(x^{b-\alpha }-a^{b-\alpha }\right),\,&{\text{for }}\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil -1<b\wedge b\in \mathbb {R} \\0,\,&{\text{for }}\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil -1\geq b\wedge b\in \mathbb {N} \\\end{cases}}\end{aligned}}}$$

The Caputo fractional derivative of a exponential function ${\displaystyle e^{a\cdot x}}$ is given by:

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}{_{a}^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }}\left&={_{a}^{\text{RL}}\operatorname {I} _{x}^{\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil -\alpha }}\left\right]=b^{\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil }\cdot {_{a}^{\text{RL}}\operatorname {I} _{x}^{\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil -\alpha }}\left\\{_{a}^{\text{C}}\operatorname {D} _{x}^{\alpha }}\left&=b^{\alpha }\cdot \left(E_{x}\left(\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil -\alpha ,\,b\right)-E_{a}\left(\left\lceil \alpha \right\rceil -\alpha ,\,b\right)\right)\\\end{aligned}}}$$

where ${\textstyle E_{x}\left(\nu ,\,a\right)={\frac {a^{-\nu }\cdot e^{a\cdot x}\cdot \gamma \left(\nu ,\,a\cdot x\right)}{\Gamma \left(\nu \right)}}}$ is the ${\textstyle \operatorname {E} _{t}}$-function and ${\textstyle \gamma \left(a,\,b\right)}$ is the lower incomplete gamma function.

References

1. Diethelm, Kai (2019). "General theory of Caputo-type fractional differential equations". Fractional Differential Equations. pp. 1–20. doi:10.1515/9783110571660-001. ISBN 978-3-11-057166-0. Retrieved 2023-08-10.
2. Caputo, Michele (1967). "Linear Models of Dissipation whose Q is almost Frequency Independent-II". ResearchGate. 13 (5): 530. Bibcode:1967GeoJ...13..529C. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1967.tb02303.x.
3. Lazarević, Mihailo; Rapaić, Milan Rade; Šekara, Tomislav (2014). "Introduction to Fractional Calculus with Brief Historical Background". ResearchGate: 8.
4. Dimitrov, Yuri; Georgiev, Slavi; Todorov, Venelin (2023). "Approximation of Caputo Fractional Derivative and Numerical Solutions of Fractional Differential Equations". Fractal and Fractional. 7 (10): 750. doi:10.3390/fractalfract7100750.
5. Sikora, Beata (2023). "Remarks on the Caputo fractional derivative" (PDF). Matematyka I Informatyka Na Uczelniach Technicznych (5): 78–79.
6. Huseynov, Ismail; Ahmadova, Arzu; Mahmudov, Nazim (2020). "Fractional Leibniz integral rules for Riemann-Liouville and Caputo fractional derivatives and their applications". ResearchGate: 1. arXiv:2012.11360.
7. Weisstein, Eric W. (2024). "Binomial Coefficient". mathworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
8. Sontakke, Bhausaheb Rajba; Shaikh, Amjad (2015). "Properties of Caputo Operator and Its Applications to Linear Fractional Differential Equations" (PDF). Journal of Engineering Research and Applications. 5 (5): 23–24. ISSN 2248-9622.
9. Weisstein, Eric W. "Fractional Derivative". mathworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
10. Weisstein, Eric W. (2024). "E_t-Function". mathworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved 2024-05-20.

Further reading

• Ricardo Almeida, A Caputo fractional derivative of a function with respect to another function

• Fractional calculus