Fractional dynamics has experienced a firm upswing during the past few years, having been forged into a mature framework in the theory of stochastic processes. A large number of research papers developing fractional dynamics further, or applying it to various systems have appeared since our first review article on the fractional Fokker–Planck equation (Metzler R and Klafter J 2000a, Phys. Rep. 339 1–77). It therefore appears timely to put these new works in a cohesive perspective. In this review we cover both the theoretical modelling of sub- and superdiffusive processes, placing emphasis on superdiffusion, and the discussion of applications such as the correct formulation of boundary value problems to obtain the first passage time density function. We also discuss extensively the occurrence of anomalous dynamics in various fields ranging from nanoscale over biological to geophysical and environmental systems.

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The restaurant at the end of the random walk: recent developments in the description of anomalous transport by fractional dynamics

This is a review of Collected Works of John Tate. Parts I, II, edited by Barry Mazur and Jean-Pierre Serre. American Mathematical Society, Providence, Rhode Island, 2016. For several decades it has been clear to the friends and colleagues of John Tate that a “Collected Works” was merited. The award of the Abel Prize to Tate in 2010 added impetus, and finally, in Tate’s ninety-second year we have these two magnificent volumes, edited by Barry Mazur and Jean-Pierre Serre. Beyond Tate’s published articles, they include five unpublished articles and a selection of his letters, most accompanied by Tate’s comments, and a collection of photographs of Tate. For an overview of Tate’s work, the editors refer the reader to [4]. Before discussing the volumes, I describe some of Tate’s work. 1. Hecke L-series and Tate’s thesis Like many budding number theorists, Tate’s favorite theorem when young was Gauss’s law of quadratic reciprocity. When he arrived at Princeton as a graduate student in 1946, he was fortunate to find there the person, Emil Artin, who had discovered the most general reciprocity law, so solving Hilbert’s ninth problem. By 1920, the German school of algebraic number theorists (Hilbert, Weber, . . .) together with its brilliant student Takagi had succeeded in classifying the abelian extensions of a number field K: to each group I of ideal classes in K, there is attached an extension L of K (the class field of I); the group I determines the arithmetic of the extension L/K, and the Galois group of L/K is isomorphic to I. Artin’s contribution was to prove (in 1927) that there is a natural isomorphism from I to the Galois group of L/K. When the base field contains an appropriate root of 1, Artin’s isomorphism gives a reciprocity law, and all possible reciprocity laws arise this way. In the 1930s, Chevalley reworked abelian class field theory. In particular, he replaced “ideals” with his “idèles” which greatly clarified the relation between the local and global aspects of the theory. For his thesis, Artin suggested that Tate do the same for Hecke L-series. When Hecke proved that the abelian L-functions of number fields (generalizations of Dirichlet’s L-functions) have an analytic continuation throughout the plane with a functional equation of the expected type, he saw that his methods applied even to a new kind of L-function, now named after him. Once Tate had developed his harmonic analysis of local fields and of the idèle group, he was able prove analytic continuation and functional equations for all the relevant L-series without Hecke’s complicated theta-formulas. Received by the editors September 5, 2016. 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 01A75, 11-06, 14-06. c ©2017 American Mathematical Society

The collected works

In the paper, we present a new definition of fractional deriva tive with a smooth kernel which takes on two different representations for the temporal and spatial variable. The first works on the time variables; thus it is suitable to use th e Laplace transform. The second definition is related to the spatial va riables, by a non-local fractional derivative, for which it is more convenient to work with the Fourier transform. The interest for this new approach with a regular kernel was born from the prospect that there is a class of non-local systems, which have the ability to descri be the material heterogeneities and the fluctuations of diff erent scales, which cannot be well described by classical local theories or by fractional models with singular kernel.

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A new Definition of Fractional Derivative without Singular Kernel

We study the existence of positive solutions for the nonlinear Schrodinger equation with the fractional LaplacianFurthermore, we analyse the regularity, decay and symmetry properties of these solutions.

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Positive solutions of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation with the fractional Laplacian

This book provides researchers and graduate students with a thorough introduction to the variational analysis of nonlinear problems described by nonlocal operators. The authors give a systematic treatment of the basic mathematical theory and constructive methods for these classes of nonlinear equations, plus their application to various processes arising in the applied sciences. The equations are examined from several viewpoints, with the calculus of variations as the unifying theme. Part I begins the book with some basic facts about fractional Sobolev spaces. Part II is dedicated to the analysis of fractional elliptic problems involving subcritical nonlinearities, via classical variational methods and other novel approaches. Finally, Part III contains a selection of recent results on critical fractional equations. A careful balance is struck between rigorous mathematics and physical applications, allowing readers to see how these diverse topics relate to other important areas, including topology, functional analysis, mathematical physics, and potential theory.

Variational Methods for Nonlocal Fractional Problems

Some properties of the fractional Schrodinger equation are studied. We prove the Hermiticity of the fractional Hamilton operator and establish the parity conservation law for fractional quantum mechanics. As physical applications of the fractional Schrodinger equation we find the energy spectra of a hydrogenlike atom (fractional "Bohr atom") and of a fractional oscillator in the semiclassical approximation. An equation for the fractional probability current density is developed and discussed. We also discuss the relationships between the fractional and standard Schrodinger equations.

Fractional Schrödinger equation.

Fractional Poisson process

A new application of a fractal concept to quantum physics has been developed. The fractional path integrals over the paths of the Levy flights are defined. It is shown that if fractality of the Brownian trajectories leads to standard quantum mechanics, then the fractality of the Levy paths leads to fractional quantum mechanics. The fractional quantum mechanics has been developed via the new fractional path integrals approach. A fractional generalization of the Schrodinger equation has been discovered. The new relationship between the energy and the momentum of the nonrelativistic fractional quantum-mechanical particle has been established, and the Levy wave packet has been introduced into quantum mechanics. The equation for the fractional plane wave function has been found. We have derived a free particle quantum-mechanical kernel using Fox’s H-function. A fractional generalization of the Heisenberg uncertainty relation has been found. As physical applications of the fractional quantum mechanics we have studied a free particle in a square infinite potential well, the fractional “Bohr atom” and have developed a new fractional approach to the QCD problem of quarkonium. We also discuss the relationships between fractional and the well-known Feynman path integral approaches to quantum mechanics.

Fractals and quantum mechanics

The fractional uncertainty relation is a mathematical formulation of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle in the framework of fractional quantum mechanics. Two mistaken statements presented in the Comment have been revealed. The origin of each mistaken statement has been clarified and corrected statements have been made. A map between standard quantum mechanics and fractional quantum mechanics has been presented to emphasize the features of fractional quantum mechanics and to avoid misinterpretations of the fractional uncertainty relation. It has been shown that the fractional probability current equation is correct in the area of its applicability. Further studies have to be done to find meaningful quantum physics problems with involvement of the fractional probability current density vector and the extra term emerging in the framework of fractional quantum mechanics.

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A new family of fractional counting processes based on a three-parameter generalized Mittag-Leﬄer function was introduced and studied. As applications we develop a fractional generalized compound process, introduce and develop fractional generalized Bell polynomials and numbers, fractional generalized Stirling numbers of the second kind, and a new family of quantum coherent states. We introduced and studied the stretched quantum coherent states, which are a generalization of the famous Schr¨odinger-Glauber coherent states. In particular cases the new results reproduce well-known equations for Poisson and fractional Poisson probability distributions, Bell and fractional Bell numbers, Stirling and fractional Stirling numbers of the second kind, and for the well-known quantum coherent states.

Nick Laskin

Papers

Fractional Schrödinger equation.

Fractional Poisson process

Fractals and quantum mechanics

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A New Family of Fractional Counting Probability Distributions