1. Introduction
One of the traditional approaches for solving broad classes of initial boundary value problems involving partial differential equations is using, from the theory of differential equations in Banach spaces, in particular, the theory of semigroups of operators [
1,
2,
3,
4]. As it is known, the resolving function 
 that defines the solution 
 of the Cauchy problem 
 to a first-order equation
      
(
 is the first order differentiation operator) in a Banach space 
 with, generally speaking, an unbounded linear operator 
A form a semigroup, i.e., 
 for all 
, since the formal solution of such an equation is given by the exponential function. For fractional order equations
      
	  (
 is the Gerasimov–Caputo derivative of the order 
) the semigroup property of resolving function is absent, and there is no generalization of this property in the general case, since the class of Mittag–Leffler functions that are the formal solutions of such equations is too wide. However, in other respects, the advantages of these functional-analytical approaches remain valid in the study of fractional differential equations. Such advantages include the possibility of studying wide classes of initial boundary value problems for partial differential equations and systems of equations within one class of initial problems for an equation in a Banach space: proving the existence and uniqueness of the solution, obtaining a representation of a solution in the linear case and an approximate solution in the nonlinear one, etc. The technique of resolving families of operators (resolving functions) is used successfully when studying integro-differential equations [
5,
6], integral evolution equations [
7,
8], various fractional differential equations [
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14].
An important generalization of the notion of the operator semigroup is the 
k-times integrated operator semigroup [
15,
16]. The theory of the 
k-times integrated operator semigroups (see [
15,
16,
17,
18,
19]) enables one to investigate the solvability of the Cauchy problem 
 for a first-order Equation (
1) in the case where the operator 
A does not generate an operator semigroup 
S, but generates a 
k-times integrated semigroup of operators 
. In the case of the existence of the semigroup 
S, 
 is the 
k-th order primitive of 
S.
The Cauchy problem
      
      for a linear homogeneous equation
      
      was studied in terms of solution operators (resolving functions) in [
9]. Here, 
 are derivatives of 
k-th order, 
, 
 is the Gerasimov–Caputo derivative of the order 
, 
 (see the definition in the next section). In [
9], the necessary and sufficient conditions in terms of the operator 
A resolvent are obtained for the existence of the solution operator (resolving function) of Equation (
3). The properties of strongly continuous and analytic, exponentially bounded resolving functions were studied.
The aim of the present work is to extend the concept of a 
k-times integrated semigroup to the resolving functions of the fractional differential Equation (
3). In this case, 
-integrated resolving functions will be considered not only for 
, as for operator semigroups, but also for a fractional order 
 of integration. This will allow us to assert the existence of a solution to the Cauchy problem (
2) for Equation (
3) or for the corresponding inhomogeneous equation in the case where there is no (sufficiently differentiable) resolving function, but there is a 
-integrated resolving function (its existence conditions are less stringent). In partial cases, we obtain 
k-times integrated semigroups [
15,
16] (
, 
) and the resolving functions of the fractional order equation [
9] (
 is arbitrary, 
). Thus, the symmetry properties (in some sense) of the concepts of integrability and differentiability are studied.
In the 
Section 2, some necessary definitions are given, including the new notion of a 
-integrated resolving function. Some properties of this function are proved. Necessary and (separately) sufficient conditions for the existence of a 
-integrated resolving function are obtained in terms of estimates for the resolvent of the generator 
A in some right complex half-plane. 
Section 3 contains the issues of the existence of a unique solution for the Cauchy problem to Equation (
3), the corresponding general inhomogeneous equation and some special inhomogeneous equations. Mild solutions and classical solutions are considered. In the 
Section 4, two theorems on the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a 
-integrated resolving function are obtained. These conditions are formulated in terms of the resolvent of generator 
A on the semi-axis. The last section concerns the 
-integrated resolving function for the linear time-fractional Schrödinger equation with the Dirichlet boundary condition.
  2. -Integrated Resolving Functions and Some of Their Properties
Introduce the denotation 
, for 
, where 
 is a Banach space, the Riemann–Liouville integral of the order 
 is
      
, 
 is the derivative of the 
m-th order, 
. The Gerasimov–Caputo derivative of the order 
 for 
 is defined as [
9] (p. 11, Formula (1.20)).
      
	  Here and further 
, 
 For 
, the denotation 
 will also be used.
Remark 1.  A.N.Gerasimov [20] and M. Caputo [21] introduced the concept of a fractional derivative, named here by their names, independently of each other. A discussion of these issues can be found in [22].  The Laplace transform of a function 
 will be denoted by 
. The Laplace transform of the Riemann–Liouville integral and the Gerasimov–Caputo derivative satisfies the equalities (see, e. g., [
9,
23]).
      
Denote by  the Banach algebra of all linear bounded operators from  to , the set of all linear closed operators, densely defined in , acting to the space  will be denoted by . The denotation for the set of all linear closed operators, defined in , acting on the space  is . Endow the domain  of an operator  by the norm of its graph  and obtain the Banach space .
Consider the Cauchy problem
      
      for a linear homogeneous equation
      
      where 
, 
. As a solution to problem (
4), (
5) is a function 
, such that 
 exists and conditions (
4) and equality (
5) for 
 hold.
Definition 1  ([
9] (p. 20, Definition 2.3))  A function 
 is called 
resolving for Equation (
5) if the following conditions are satisfied:
- (i)
-  is strongly continuous on , ; 
- (ii)
- ,  for all , ; 
- (iii)
-  is a solution to the Cauchy problem  - ,  - ,  - , to Equation ( 5- ) for every  - . 
 Remark 2.  Often, the family of operators  from Definition 1 is called a solution operator [9] (p. 20, Definition 2.3) or a resolving family of operators [11,12,13,14]. The second option seems more convenient to us. In addition, in this paper, it is more natural to use the corresponding mapping  not a family of operators, so we use the shorter term “resolving function”.  Remark 3.  Concepts of the resolving function or resolving family of operators (resolving functions) are used in the study of first-order equations [1,2,3] (-continuous resolving semigroup of operators), integro-differential equations [5], integral evolution equations [7], fractional differential equations [9].  Let  be a Banach space. For , define the exponential growth bound as .
Let 
S be a resolving function of Equation (
5) with 
. It is known that 
 for 
 [
9] (p. 21, Formula (2.6)). For 
, consider the function 
, where for 
	  Then, for 
, there exists the Laplace transform
      
      consequently, 
Definition 2.  Let , , . We call A a generator of a β-integrated resolving function, if  exists and a strongly continuous function  such that ,  and equality  is valid for all . In this case,  is called the β-integrated resolving the function generated by A.
 Remark 4.  Due to [9] (p. 23, Theorem 2.9), the 0-integrated resolving function is a resolving function for Equation (
5).
  Remark 5.  From Definition 2, it follows the one-to-one correspondence of generators and β-integrated resolving functions for a fixed .
 Example 1.  Consider , then the β-resolving function of Equation (
5) 
is  where  is the Mittag–Leffler function. Indeed, forwe havewhere .  Lemma 1.  Let , , A be a generator of a -integrated resolving function. Then, A is the generator of a -integrated resolving function.
 Proof.  Let for 
        where 
 is a strongly continuous function.    □
 Proposition 1  ([
16] (p. 110, Proposition 3.1.5)). 
Let  be strongly continuous such that . Then, the following assertions hold:(i) If  such that  for all , then  for all .
(ii) In particular, if  for all , then  for all .
 Lemma 2.  Let , , A be the generator of a β-integrated resolving function . Then, the following holds.
- (i)
- , , . 
- (ii)
- , , . 
- (iii)
- If , then  and  for all . 
- (iv)
- Let  and . Then 
In particular, ,   for  such that , .
 (v) 
Let  and . Then,  and for .(vi) 
Let  such that, for all, Then,  and .Proof.  We have for  , therefore, due to the resolvent identity, we have , consequently, by Proposition 1, (i) we obtain assertion (i) of this lemma. Proposition 1 (ii) implies assertion (ii) of the lemma.
Take 
 for some 
, 
, and then, for all 
 ,
        
		Therefore, statement (iii) holds.
For 
, 
, 
, we have
        
		By the inverse Laplace transform, we obtain equality (
6). Hence, for 
, 
, we have 
 if 
, and
        
        if 
.
For 
 and 
, assertions (i)–(iv) imply that
        
		Hence, 
 for 
, 
. Additionally, it follows from (
9) that 
 and
        
		Therefore, equality (
7) is true.
If 
 such that (
8) is valid, then
        
		Consequently, 
, 
 and 
.    □
 Remark 6.  It is known that the generators of β-integrated resolving functions may be not densely defined (see Remark 3.2.3 in [16] for , ), but due to assertion (v) of Lemma 2  for all , .  Remark 7.  Apparently, there is no generalization of the semigroup property for the resolving functions in the case of , . Hence, there is no analogue of functional relation (3.9) ([16] p. 124) characterizing k-times integrated semigroups (the case of , ), and there is no generalization of Proposition 3.2.4 for .  Theorem 1  ([
16] (p. 81, Theorem 2.5.1)). 
Let  be a Banach space, ,  be an analytic function with  and let . Then, there exists  with  such that  for . Theorem 2.  Let ,  and .
 - (i)
- If , ,  exists such that  and the inequality  holds, whenever , then A generates a β-integrated resolving function  satisfying . 
- (ii)
- If A generates a β-integrated resolving function  such that , then for , there exists K such that the inclusion  and the inequality  are true whenever . 
Proof.  Apply Theorem 1 for . Then, a strongly continuous function  exists such that the equality  is valid and assertion (i) is true. Moreover, there exists  such that, for all .
Let 
. Then, there exists 
 such that for all 
. Therefore,
        
        whenever 
.    □
   3. Cauchy Problem for Equations with a Generator of -Integrated Function
Consider the Cauchy problem
      
      where 
, 
, 
, 
 and an operator 
A generates a 
-integrated resolving function for 
.
By a mild solution of problem (
10) and (
11), we mean a function 
 such that for all 
, 
 and
      
By a classical solution of (
10) and (
11), we understand a function 
 such that 
, conditions (
10) hold and equality (
11) is valid for all 
.
Let  be the minimal integer, which is equal to or greater than .
Theorem 3.  Let , , , A generate a β-integrated resolving function  such that , then the following assertions are valid.
 - (i)
- If , , , then there exists a unique mild solution to problem-  ( 10- )  and-  ( 11- ). 
 
- (ii)
- If , , , then there exists a unique classical solution to problem-  ( 10- )  and-  ( 11- ). 
 
- (iii)
- If , , , , then there exists a unique mild solution to problem-  ( 10- )  and-  ( 11- ). 
 
- (iv)
- If , , , , then there exists a unique classical solution to problem-  ( 10- )  and-  ( 11- ). 
 
Proof.  Due to Lemma 2 (iv) for 
		Hence, for 
		Therefore, 
 is a mild solution to (
10) and (
11) with 
. Let 
x be another mild solution of this problem. Then, 
 satisfies the equality 
 for 
. Define 
 for 
 and obtain 
. Hence, for 
 and 
.
For 
, we similarly have that
        
		Hence, 
 is a classical solution to (
10) and (
11) with 
. If two classical solutions exist, then there are two mild solutions. The previous assertion implies the uniqueness of a solution.
Let 
, then for 
, 
        since
		
		Thus, due to Lemma 2 (iv)
        
        consequently, 
 and
        
        is a mild solution to problem (
10) and (
11). Its uniqueness can be proven analogously to the homogeneous case.
If 
, then for 
        consequently, taking into account (
12), we have
        
		Therefore,
        
        is a unique classical solution of problem (
10) and (
11).    □
 Lemma 3  ([
16] (p. 130, Lemma 3.2.14). 
Let  be Banach spaces and . Assume that  is exponentially bounded for all . Then, there exist constants ,  such that  for all . Theorem 4.  Let , , . The following statements are equivalent:
- (i)
- A generates a β-integrated resolving function  with . 
- (ii)
- For all , there exists a unique classical solution of problem 
and it is exponentially bounded.  Proof.  If 
A generates a 
-integrated resolving function 
, take
        
		We have 
, 
, such that for all 
, hence, 
 for every 
 and some 
. By Lemma 2 (v)
        
        conditions (
13) obviously hold; hence, 
y is a classical solution of problem (
13) and (
14). Its uniqueness on every segment 
 can be shown as in the proof of assertion (i) in Theorem 3; hence, the solution is unique on 
. Consequently, statement (i) implies assertion (ii).
Let statement (ii) hold. Denote by 
 the solution to problem (
13) and (
14) with an arbitrary 
 and 
. The mapping 
 is evidently linear. Moreover, we have that 
. Indeed, the space 
 is a Fréchet space with the seminorms 
. Define a mapping 
 by 
. Let 
 in 
 and 
 in 
 as 
. Hence, for 
  as 
. Since 
 and 
A is closed, it follows that 
 and 
. Thus, 
 is a solution of (
13) and (
14) and 
. Then, 
 is closed and due to the closed graph theorem 
 is continuous. In particular, the mapping 
, 
 is continuous for 
. The assumption together with Lemma 3 imply that, for suitable constants 
, 
  for all 
. Therefore, 
 is well defined for 
, since
        
		There exists 
 and 
, consequently, 
 for all 
, all 
 and
        
        for 
. In order to show that 
 is injective for 
, assume that 
 for some 
 and 
. Then, the solution 
 of (
13), (
14) is given by
        
		Hence, for some 
 and for all 
, 
		Here, we use asymptotic formula [
9] for the Mittag–Leffler function. The last inequality is possible, if 
 only. Hence, due to (
15) 
 for 
 and 
 is a 
-integrated resolving function generated by 
A. Indeed, 
 exists for all 
 and all 
 and 
, 
. Therefore, 
, so 
 is a 
-integrated resolving function generated by 
A. Consequently, assertion (ii) implies (i).    □
   4. Criterion of Existence for -Integrated Resolving Function
Herein, we will use the next two statements.
Theorem 5  ([
16] (p. 78, Theorem 2.4.1)). 
Let , . If  has the Radon–Nikodym property, then for any  the following assertions are equivalent:- (i)
-  for all  
- (ii)
- There exists  such that , , , and  for all . 
 Theorem 6  ([
16] (p. 78, Theorem 2.4.2)). 
Let , . For any , the following assertions are equivalent:- (i)
-  for all  
- (ii)
- There exists  such that  for almost all  and  for all . 
 Theorem 7.  Let , , , . Then, the following statements are equivalent:
- (i)
-  and for all ,  
- (ii)
- A generates a -integrated resolving function  on  satisfying 
 Proof.  Let assertion (i) be true. From Theorem 6, it follows that there is 
 with 
 for almost all 
 such that 
 for all 
. Then, 
 is a strongly continuous function, which is generated by the 
A-integrated resolving function satisfying (
16).
Conversely, assume that (ii) holds. By the definition of the 
-integrated resolving function 
, there exists 
 such that 
 for all 
. Then, inequality (
16) also holds with a constant 
. Without limiting generality, we can assume that 
. Take 
, 
; due to Lemma 2 (v) 
, hence,
        
        and 
. Due to the equality
        
        we have 
 and assertion (i) follows from Theorem 5.    □
 Lemma 4  ([
16] (p. 133, Lemma 3.3.3)). 
For , the space  is a closed subspace of . In particular, if , then  is a closed subspace of . Theorem 8.  Let , , , . Then, the following assertions are equivalent:
- (i)
-  and for all ,  
- (ii)
- A generates a β-integrated resolving function  on  satisfying 
 Proof.  Assume that statement (ii) holds. Then, A also generates a -integrated resolving function  on  which satisfies the assertion (ii) of Theorem 7. Hence, statement (i) follows from that theorem.
Conversely, assume that (i) holds. By Theorem 7, 
A generates a 
-integrated resolving function 
 on 
 such that 
 with 
. By Lemma 2 (iv), under condition 
  exists for all 
. Thus, 
 is continuous on 
 for 
, 
. By Lemma 4, the definition of 
 given by this way is also meaningful for 
 and 
 is also continuous for 
. By assumption 
, therefore 
A is the generator of the 
-integrated resolving function 
 on 
 which is exponentially bounded due to inequality (
16) for 
.    □
 Remark 8.  The implication from (ii) to (i) is valid for arbitrary  and for .
   5. -Integrated Resolving Function for the Time-Fractional Schrödinger Equation
Let 
, 
 be a bounded region with a smooth boundary 
. The initial boundary value problem
      
      for the linear time-fractional Schrödinger equation
      
      with 
 can be reduced to problem (
4), (
5), if we take 
, the unbounded operator 
 is defined as 
, 
. It is known that 
, where 
 are the real non-positive eigenvalues of the corresponding Laplace operator numbered in ascending order, taking into account their multiplicities. Let 
 be the corresponding eigenfunctions of 
A, which form an orthonormal basis in 
.
The 
-resolving function of Equation (
18) with boundary condition (
17) for 
 has the form
      
      where 
 is the inner product in 
. Indeed, for 
 using the Mittag–Leffler function definition 
 and the equality 
 we have
      
Thus, the conditions of Definition 2 are satisfied.