Multidomain spectral approach to rational‐order fractional derivatives

Abstract

We propose a method to numerically compute fractional derivatives (or the fractional Laplacian) on the whole real line via Riesz fractional integrals. The compactified real line is divided into a number of intervals, thus amounting to a multidomain approach; after transformations in accordance with the underlying curve ensuring analyticity of the respective integrands, the integrals over the different domains are computed with a Clenshaw–Curtis algorithm. As an example, we consider solitary waves for fractional Korteweg‐de Vries equations and compare these to results obtained with a discrete Fourier transform.