1. Introduction
Fractional derivatives and integrals have become highly significant tools in a variety of fields, including chemistry, biology, physics, and finance. Owing to their wide range of applications, numerous new fractional derivative operators have been introduced and studied in the literature. Kilbas et al., in Ref. [
1], introduced the Riemann–Liouville fractional derivative, the Caputo fractional derivative and the Riemann–Liouville fractional derivative with respect to another function. R. Hilfer, in Ref. [
2], introduced the Hilfer fractional derivative, which is a combination of the Riemann–Liouville and Caputo fractional derivatives. For some applications involving the Hilfer fractional derivative, such as in control theory, the analysis of dynamical systems, and the modeling of anomalous diffusion processes, see [
3,
4,
5,
6]. Building on Kilbas’s idea of the Riemann–Liouville fractional derivative with respect to another function, Almeida introduced the Caputo fractional derivative with respect to another function in Ref. [
7]. Similarly, Souza and De Oliveira, in Ref. [
8], introduced the
-Hilfer fractional derivative, which is the derivative of the Hilfer fractional derivative with respect to another function.
Mubeen and Habibullah, in Ref. [
9], introduced the
k-Riemann–Liouville fractional integral by using the
k-gamma function, which was introduced by Diaz and Pariguan in Ref. [
10]. Similarly, Romero et al., in Ref. [
11], introduced the
k-Riemann–Liouville fractional derivative. Kwun et al., in Ref. [
12], introduced the
-Riemann–Liouville fractional integral. Kucche and Mali, in Ref. [
13], introduced the
-Riemann–Liouville,
-Caputo and
-Hilfer fractional derivative operators. In the literarture,
)-Hilfer nonlocal integro-multi-point boundary value problems were studied in Ref. [
14],
)-Hilfer nonlocal fractional coupled systems in Ref. [
15],
)-Hilfer Langevin fractional coupled systems in Ref. [
16],
)-Hilfer variational problem in Ref. [
17] and controllability of fractional dynamical systems with
)-Hilfer fractional derivative in Ref. [
18].
The Hilfer fractional derivative, commonly encountered in the analysis of boundary value problems, generally necessitates a zero initial condition. This requirement considerably restricts its use in scenarios with more general boundary specifications. To overcome this limitation, one can employ a sequential combination of the Hilfer and Caputo fractional derivatives. This approach enables the study of boundary value problems with nonzero initial conditions. The combined use of the
-Hilfer and
-Caputo derivatives offers a high degree of flexibility and generality in obtaining solutions to fractional differential equations. This representation provides a richer mathematical framework for modeling diverse physical and engineering systems. In recent years, several researchers have studied these fractional derivatives and explored their use in solving nonlinear fractional differential equations. In Ref. [
19], the authors investigated the following mixed Hilfer and Caputo fractional Riemann–Stieltjes integral differential equations with non-separated boundary conditions:
where
and
,
,
,
,
are the
-Hilfer and
-Caputo fractional derivative operators, respectively. Moreover,
,
is the Riemann–Liouville fractional integral operator of order
with respect to a function
,
is a nonlinear continuous function,
is the Riemann–Stieltjes integral and
is a function of bounded variation.
In Ref. [
20], the authors investigated the following system:
where
and
,
,
, with
,
, are the
-Hilfer fractional derivative and
-Caputo fractional derivative, respectively. Moreover,
with
,
,
are the Riemann–Liouville fractional integral of order
,
with respect to a function
, and
are nonlinear continuous functions.
Recently, in Ref. [
21], a sequential boundary value problems including both the
-Hilfer and the
-Caputo fractional derivatives supplemented with non-separated boundary conditions of the form
were investigated, where the differential operator
is the
-Hilfer fractional derivative of order
with the parameters
.
and
are the
-Caputo fractional derivative of orders
and
, respectively, where
. Moreover,
,
and
is a continuous function. Existence and uniqueness of solutions are established through the application of fixed-point theorems by Banach, Schaefer, and Krasnosel’skiĭ, along with the Leray–Schauder nonlinear alternative.
In the present paper, we analyze the coupled system of sequential
-Hilfer and
-Caputo sequential fractional differential equations with non-separated boundary conditions of the following form:
where
and
are
-Hilfer and
-Hilfer fractional derivatives operator of orders
with the parameters
. The differential operators
and
are the
-Caputo fractional derivatives of orders
and
, respectively, where
. Similarly,
and
are the
-Caputo fractional derivatives of orders
and
, respectively, where
.
are
-Riemann fractional integral of order
,
. Moreover,
,
and
are continuous functions.
It is worth noting that the present study is motivated by the generality of the -Hilfer fractional derivative operator, which encompasses several well-known fractional derivative operators as special cases through appropriate choices of and the parameter . Specifically, the following apply:
- (1)
When , it reduces to the -Riemann–Liouville fractional derivative;
- –
In particular, for , it becomes the k-Riemann–Liouville fractional derivative.
- (2)
When , it becomes the -Caputo fractional derivative;
- –
Again, for , it corresponds to the k-Caputo fractional derivative.
- (3)
For : It yields the k-Hilfer–Katugampola fractional derivative;
- –
Setting gives the k-Katugampola fractional derivative;
- –
Setting gives the k-Caputo–Katugampola fractional derivative.
- (4)
For : It yields the k-Hilfer–Hadamard fractional derivative;
- –
Setting gives the k-Hadamard fractional derivative;
- –
Setting gives the k-Caputo–Hadamard fractional derivative.
Similarly, the -Riemann–Liouville fractional integral operators, which appear in the fractional differential equations, specialize to the following:
The -Riemann–Liouville fractional integral;
The k-Riemann–Liouville fractional integral;
The classical Riemann–Liouville fractional integral.
The above apply by taking , , and both and , respectively.
The combination of -Hilfer and -Caputo fractional derivative operators represents a novel approach in fractional calculus, which has not been extensively explored in the existing literature. Therefore, our contributions are expected to progress the ongoing development in this emerging area of research.
To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first to address coupled systems of boundary value problems of this particular form. Consequently, there are no directly comparable results available in the existing literature.
This paper is organized as follows: In
Section 2, we provide the definitions and lemmas necessary for understanding the manuscript. In
Section 3, we use fixed point theory to obtain our main results, proving the uniqueness of the solution using Banach’s contraction mapping principle, while two existence results are established through Leray–Schauder’s alternative and Krasnosel’skiĭ’s fixed point theorem. Furthermore, the obtained results are illustrated by numerical examples in
Section 4.
3. Main Results
Let be the Banach space of all continuous functions from to equipped with the norm . The product space is a Banach space with norm for .
In view of Lemma 6, we define an operator
by
where
and
where we used the notations
For computational convenience, we set
In the first result, Banach’s contraction mapping principle is used to prove the existence and uniqueness of solutions for the system in Equation (
2).
Theorem 1. Let be continuous functions. Assume that the following condition is satisfied:
(
H1)
There exists constants such that
for all and , .
Ifwhere are given by Equation (16), then the coupled system of sequential -Hilfer and -Caputo fractional differential equations with non-separated boundary conditions in Equation (2) has a unique solution on . Proof. Let
be a closed and bounded ball with
where
and
.
By assumption
, it follows that
and
Let us first show that
. For each
, we have
Therefore, we deduce that
In a similar way of computation, we get
From the two inequalities in Equations (
18) and (
19) above, we can conclude that
which yields that
.
By assumption
, it follows that
and, similarly,
Now, we will show that the operator
T is a contraction. For each
and for any
, we have
and consequently, we obtain
Similarly, we can find that
From the inequalities in Equations (
20) and (
21), we conclude that
Since
, the operator
T is a contraction. Thus, by Banach’s contraction mapping principle, the operator
T has a unique fixed point. Consequently, the coupled system of sequential
-Hilfer and
-Caputo fractional differential equations with non-separated boundary conditions in Equation (
2) has a unique solution on
. This completes the proof. □
Lemma 7 ([
22] Leray–Schauder alternative)
. Let X be a Banach space, and be a completely continuous operator (i.e., a map restricted to any bounded set in X is compact). Let . Then either the set is unbounded, or T has at least one fixed point. Theorem 2. Let be continuous functions. Assume that the following condition is satisfied:
Ifwhere are given by Equation (6) and are given by Equation (16), then the coupled system of sequential -Hilfer and -Caputo fractional differential equations with non-separated boundary conditions in Equation (2) has at least one solution on . Proof. In view of the continuity of functions
f and
g, the operator
T is continuous. Now, we will show that
T maps bounded set into bounded set in
. For a positive
r, let
be a bounded set in
.
By assumption
, it follows that
and
For any
, we have
which leads to
Hence,
which implies the uniformly boundedness property of the operator
T.
For the equicontinuity of
T, we set
with
and
. Then we have
which implies
Thus, the set is equicontinuous. By taking into account the Arzelá–Ascoli theorem, is relatively compact. Then, the operator T is completely continuous.
Finally, we show that the set
is bounded. For any
, then
for some
. Hence, for
, we have
Then, we can compute that
and
Therefore, we obtain
and
which yield
Therefore
where
which shows that
is bounded. By using Leray–Schauder’s alternative, we conclude that the coupled system of sequential
-Hilfer and
-Caputo fractional differential equations with non-separated boundary conditions in Equation (
2) has at least one solution on
. This completes the proof. □
The last existence theorem is based on the following Krasnosel’skiĭ’s fixed point theorem.
Theorem 3 ([
23])
. Let B be a bounded, closed, convex and nonempty subset of a Banach space X with operators and be operators such that- (i)
where ,
- (ii)
is compact and continuous,
- (iii)
is a contraction mapping.
Then, there exists such that .
Theorem 4. Let be continuous functions satisfying the assumption . Moreover, we assume that:
(
H3)
There exist continuous functions such thatfor each .
Ifwhere and are given by Equation (16), then the coupled system of sequential -Hilfer and -Caputo fractional differential equations with non-separated boundary conditions in Equation (2) has at least one solution on . Proof. First, we separate the operator
T as
with
It is clear that
. Let
, be a closed and bounded ball with
where
and
.
For any
, we find that
Thus, we obtain
which shows that
.
Using assumption (
H1) along with Equation (
23), we show that
is a contraction mapping. For
, and for any
, we have
and consequently, we obtain
Similarly, we can find that
From the inequalities in Equations (
24) and (
25), we conclude that
Since , the operator is a contraction.
Continuity of
f and
g implies that the operator
is continuous. Also,
is uniformly bounded on
as
Hence,
is uniformly bounded. Lastly, we will show that the set
is equicontinuous. For
with
and
, we have
From the inequalities in Equations (
26) and (
27), we conclude that
as
independently of
. Therefore the operator
is equicontinuous. Hence, by the Arzelá–Ascoli Theorem,
is compact on
. Therefore, by the conclusion of Krasnosel’skiĭ’s fixed point theorem, Equation (
2) has at least one solution on
. This completes the proof. □
4. Illustrative Examples
Consider the following coupled system of sequential
-Hilfer and
-Caputo fractional differential equations with non-separated boundary conditions of the form
Here, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and . Using the given values, we find that , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .
Example 1. We consider the functions defined on , asand Clearly f and g satisfy the Lipschitz condition, sinceandwith Lipschitz constants , . Therefore, the functions f and g satisfy condition in Theorem 1. In addition, we can find thatwhich implies that the inequality in Equation (17) is satisfied. Therefore, we deduce by Theorem 1, the coupled system of sequential -Hilfer and -Caputo fractional differential equations with non-separated boundary conditions in Equation (28) with f and g given by Equations (29) and (30), respectively, has a unique solution on . Example 2. We consider the functions defined on , asand By setting , , , , , , , we obtainandwhich implies that the inequalities in Equation (22) are satisfied. Therefore, we deduce by Theorem 2, the coupled system of sequential -Hilfer and -Caputo fractional differential equations with non-separated boundary conditions in Equation (28) with f and g given by Equations (31) and (32), respectively, has at least one solution in . Example 3. We consider the functions defined on , asand Moreover, f and g satisfy the Lipschitz condition, sinceandwith Lipschitz constants , . Therefore, the functions f and g satisfy condition in Theorem 1. In addition, we can find thatwhich implies that the inequality in Equation (23) is satisfied. Therefore, we deduce by Theorem 4, the coupled system of sequential -Hilfer and -Caputo fractional differential equations with non-separated boundary conditions (28) with f and g given by (33) and (34), respectively, has at least one solution in .