A Fractional Calculus of Variations for Multiple Integrals

with Application to Vibrating String

arXiv:1001.2722v1 [math.OC] 15 Jan 2010

Ricardo Almeida1 Agnieszka B. Malinowska1,2

ricardo.almeida@ua.pt abmalinowska@ua.pt
Delm F. M. Torres1
delfim@ua.pt
1
Department of Mathematics, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
2
Faculty of Computer Science, Bialystok University of Technology,
15-351 Bialystok, Poland

Abstract
We introduce a fractional theory of the calculus of variations for multiple integrals. Our
approach uses the recent notions of Riemann-Liouville fractional derivatives and integrals in
the sense of Jumarie. Main results provide fractional versions of the theorems of Green and
Gauss, fractional Euler-Lagrange equations, and fractional natural boundary conditions. As
an application we discuss the fractional equation of motion of a vibrating string.

PACS: 45.10.Db; 45.10.Hj; 02.30.Xx.

Mathematics Subject Classification 2010: 49K10; 26A33; 26B20.

Keywords: fractional calculus; modied Riemann-Liouville derivatives and integrals;
fractional calculus of variations; multiple integrals; fractional theorems of Green, Gauss,
and Stokes; fractional Euler-Lagrange equations.

1 Introduction
The Fractional Calculus (FC) is one of the most interdisciplinary elds of mathematics, with many
applications in physics and engineering. The history of FC goes back more than three centuries,
when in 1695 the derivative of order = 1/2 was described by Leibniz. Since then, many dierent
forms of fractional operators were introduced: the Grunwald-Letnikov, Riemann-Liouville, Riesz,
and Caputo fractional derivatives [31, 35, 39], and the more recent notions of Klimek [32], Cresson
[14], and Jumarie [24, 25, 27, 28].
FC is nowadays the realm of physicists and mathematicians, who investigate the usefulness
of such non-integer order derivatives and integrals in dierent areas of physics and mathematics
[12, 23, 31]. It is a successful tool for describing complex quantum eld dynamical systems,
dissipation, and long-range phenomena that cannot be well illustrated using ordinary dierential
and integral operators [20, 23, 32, 38]. Applications of FC are found, e.g., in classical and quantum
mechanics, eld theories, variational calculus, and optimal control [19, 22, 27].
Although FC is an old mathematical discipline, the fractional vector calculus is at the very
beginning. We mention the recent paper [42], where some fractional versions of the classical results
of Green, Stokes and Gauss are obtained via Riemann-Liouville and Caputo fractional operators.
Accepted for publication in the Journal of Mathematical Physics (14/January/2010).

1
For the purposes of a multidimensional Fractional Calculus of Variations (FCV), the Jumarie
fractional integral and derivative seems, however, to be more appropriate.
The FCV started in 1996 with the work of Riewe [38]. Riewe formulated the problem of
the calculus of variations with fractional derivatives and obtained the respective Euler-Lagrange
equations, combining both conservative and nonconservative cases. Nowadays the FCV is a sub-
ject under strong research. Dierent denitions for fractional derivatives and integrals are used,
depending on the purpose under study. Investigations cover problems depending on Riemann-
Liouville fractional derivatives (see, e.g., [6, 20, 21]), the Caputo fractional derivative (see, e.g.,
[1, 8, 9]), the symmetric fractional derivative (see, e.g., [32]), the Jumarie fractional derivative
(see, e.g., [5, 27]), and others [3, 14, 19]. For applications of the fractional calculus of variations
we refer the reader to [16, 17, 20, 27, 32, 36, 37, 40]. Although the literature of FCV is already
vast, much remains to be done.
Knowing the importance and relevance of multidimensional problems of the calculus of varia-
tions in physics and engineering [43], it is at a rst view surprising that a multidimensional FCV
is a completely open research area. We are only aware of some preliminary results presented in
[20], where it is claimed that an appropriate fractional variational theory involving multiple in-
tegrals would have important consequences in mechanical problems involving dissipative systems
with innitely many degrees of freedom, but where a formal theory for that is missing. There is,
however, a good reason for such omission in the literature: most of the best well-known fractional
operators are not suitable for a generalization of the FCV to the multidimensional case, due to
lack of good properties, e.g., an appropriate Leibniz rule.
The main aim of the present work is to introduce a fractional calculus of variations for multiple
integrals. For that we make use of the recent Jumarie fractional integral and derivative [24, 25, 28],
extending such notions to the multidimensional case. The main advantage of using Jumaries
approach lies in the following facts: the Leibniz rule for the Jumarie fractional derivative is
equal to the standard one and, as we show, the fractional generalization of some fundamental
multidimensional theorems of calculus is possible. We mention that Jumaries approach is also
useful for the one-dimensional FCV, as recently shown in [5] (see also [26]).
The plan of the paper is as follows. In Section 2 some basic formulas of Jumaries fractional
calculus are briey reviewed. Then, in Section 3, the dierential and integral vector operators are
introduced, and fractional Greens, Gausss and Stokes theorems formulated. Section 4 is devoted
to the study of problems of fractional calculus of variations with multiple integrals. Our main
results provide Euler-Lagrange necessary optimality type conditions for such problems (Theorems 3
and 5) as well as natural boundary conditions (Theorem 4). We end with Section 5 of applications
and future perspectives.

2 Preliminaries
For an introduction to the classical fractional calculus we refer the reader to [31, 34, 35, 39]. In this
section we briey review the main notions and results from the recent fractional calculus proposed
by Jumarie [25, 27, 28]. Let f : [0, 1] R be a continuous function and (0, 1). The Jumarie
fractional derivative of f may be dened by
Z x
1 d
f () (x) = (x t) (f (t) f (0)) dt. (1)
(1 ) dx 0

One can obtain (1) as a consequence of a more basic denition, a local one, in terms of a fractional
nite dierence (cf. equation (2.2) of [28]):
 
() 1 X k
f (x) = lim (1) f (x + ( k)h) .
h0 h k
k=0

Note that the Jumarie and the Riemann-Liouville fractional derivatives are equal if f (0) = 0. The
advantage of denition (1) with respect to the classical denition of Riemann-Liouville is that the

2
fractional derivative of a constant is now zero, as desired. An anti-derivative of f , called the (dt)
integral of f , is dened by
Z x Z x
f (t)(dt) = (x t)1 f (t)dt.
0 0

The following equalities can be considered as fractional counterparts of the rst and the second
fundamental theorems of calculus and can be found in [27, 28]:
Z x
d
f (t)(dt) = !f (x), (2)
dx 0
Z x
f () (t)(dt) = !(f (x) f (0)), (3)
0

where ! := (1 + ). The Leibniz rule for the Jumarie fractional derivative is equal to the
standard one:
(f (x)g(x))() = f () (x)g(x) + f (x)g () (x).
Here we see another advantage of derivative (1): the fractional derivative of a product is not an
innite sum, in opposite to the Leibniz rule for the Riemann-Liouville fractional derivative [35,
p. 91].
One can easily generalize the previous denitions and results for functions with a domain [a, b]:
Z x
1 d
f () (x) = (x t) (f (t) f (a)) dt
(1 ) dx a

and Z x Z x
f (t)(dt) = (x t)1 f (t)dt.
a a

3 Fractional integral theorems

In this section we introduce some useful fractional integral and fractional dierential operators.
With them we prove fractional versions of the integral theorems of Green, Gauss, and Stokes.
Throughout the text we assume that all integrals and derivatives exist.

3.1 Fractional operators

Let us consider a continuous function f = f (x1 , . . . , xn ) dened on R = ni=1 [ai , bi ] Rn . Let
us extend Jumaries fractional derivative and the (dt) integral to functions with n variables. For
xi [ai , bi ], i = 1, . . . , n, and (0, 1), we dene the fractional integral operator as
Z xi

ai Ixi [i] = (xi t)1 dt .
ai

These operators act on f in the following way:

Z xi

ai Ixi [i]f (x1 , . . . , xn ) = f (x1 , . . . , xi1 , t, xi+1 , . . . , xn )(xi t)1 dt , i = 1, . . . , n .
ai

Let = {k1 , . . . , ks } be an arbitrary nonempty subset of {1, . . . , n}. We dene the fractional
multiple integral operator over the region R = si=1 [aki , xki ] by

IR
[k1 , . . . , ks ] = ak1 Ixk1 [k1 ] . . . aks Ixks [ks ]
Z xk Z xks
1
= s (xk1 tk1 )1 (xks tks )1 dtks . . . dtk1
ak1 aks

3
which acts on f by

IR
[k1 , . . . , ks ]f (x1 , . . . , xn )
Z xk Z xks
1
s
= f (1 , . . . , n )(xk1 tk1 )1 (xks tks )1 dtks . . . dtk1 ,
ak1 aks

where j = tj if j , and j = xj if j
/ , j = 1, . . . , n. The fractional volume integral of f over
the whole domain R is given by
Z b1 Z bn
n
IR f = f (t1 , . . . , tn )(b1 t1 )1 (bn tn )1 dtn . . . dt1 .
a1 an

The fractional partial derivative operator with respect to the ith variable xi , i = 1, . . . , n, of
order (0, 1) is dened as follows:
Z xi
1
D
ai x i [i] = (xi t) dt ,
(1 ) xi ai

which act on f by

ai Dxi [i]f (x1 , . . . , xn )
Z xi
1
= (xi t) [f (x1 , . . . , xi1 , t, xi+1 , . . . , xn ) f (x1 , . . . , xi1 , ai , xi+1 , . . . , xn )] dt ,
(1 ) xi ai

i = 1, . . . , n.
We observe that the Jumarie fractional integral and the Jumarie fractional derivative can be
obtained putting n = 1:
Z x Z x
1
a Ix [1]f (x) = (x t) f (t) dt = f (t) (dt)
a a

and x
1 d
Z

a Dx [1]f (x) = (x t) (f (t) f (a)) dt = f () (x).
(1 ) dx a

Using these notations, formulae (2)(3) can be presented as

a Dx [1]a Ix [1]f (x) = !f (x)

a Ix [1]a Dx [1]f (x) = !(f (x) f (a)). (4)
In the two dimensional case we dene the fractional line integral on R, R = [a, b] [c, d], by

IR f = IR [1]f + IR [2]f

where

IR [1]f = a Ib [1][f (b, c) f (b, d)]
Z b
= [f (t, c) f (t, d)] (b t)1 dt
a

and

IR [2]f = c Id [2][f (b, d) f (a, d)]
Z d
= [f (b, t) f (a, t)] (d t)1 dt.
c

4
3.2 Fractional differential vector operations
Let WX = [a, x] [c, y] [e, z], W = [a, b] [c, d] [e, f ], and denote (x1 , x2 , x3 ) by (x, y, z). We
introduce the fractional nabla operator by

WX = ia Dx [1] + j c Dy [2] + k e Dz [3] ,

where the i, j, k dene a xed right-handed orthonormal basis. If f : R3 R is a continuous

function, then we dene its fractional gradient as

Grad
WX f = WX f = ia Dx [1]f (x, y, z) + j c Dy [2]f (x, y, z) + k e Dz [3]f (x, y, z) .

If F = [Fx , Fy , Fz ] : R3 R3 is a continuous vector eld, then we dene its fractional divergence

and fractional curl by

Div
WX F = WX F = a Dx [1]Fx (x, y, z) + c Dy [2]Fy (x, y, z) + e Dz [3]Fz (x, y, z)

and

Curl
e Dz [3]Fy (x, y, z)


WX F = WX F = i c Dy [2]Fz (x, y, z)

+ j (e Dz [3]Fx (x, y, z) a Dx [1]Fz (x, y, z)) + k

c Dy [2]Fx (x, y, z) .


a Dx [1]Fy (x, y, z)

Note that these fractional dierential operators are non-local. Therefore, the fractional gradient,
divergence, and curl, depend on the region WX .
For F : R3 R3 and f, g : R3 R it is easy to check the following relations:

(i) Div
WX (f F ) = f DivWX F + F GradWX f ,

(ii) Curl
WX (GradWX f ) = [0, 0, 0],

(iii) Div
WX (CurlWX F ) = 0,

(iv) Grad
WX (f g) = gGradWX f + f GradWX g,

(v) Div
WX (GradWX f ) = a Dx [1]a Dx [1]f + c Dy [2]c Dy [2]f + e Dz [3]e Dz [3]f .

Let us recall that in general (DW X
)2 6= DW
2
X
(see [28]).
A fractional ux of the vector eld F across W is a fractional oriented surface integral of the
eld such that

(IW , F ) = IW [2, 3]Fx (x, y, z) + IW [1, 3]Fy (x, y, z) + IW [1, 2]Fz (x, y, z) ,

where

IW [1, 2]f (x, y, z) = a Ib [1]c Id [2][f (b, d, f ) f (b, d, e)] ,

IW [1, 3]f (x, y, z) = a Ib [1]e If [3][f (b, d, f ) f (b, c, f )] ,
and

IW [2, 3]f (x, y, z) = c Id [2]e If [3][f (b, d, f ) f (a, d, f )] .

3.3 Fractional theorems of Green, Gauss, and Stokes

We now formulate the fractional formulae of Green, Gauss, and Stokes. Analogous results via
Caputo fractional derivatives and Riemann-Liouville fractional integrals were obtained by Tarasov
in [42].
Theorem 1 (Fractional Greens theorem for a rectangle). Let f and g be two continuous functions
whose domains contain R = [a, b] [c, d] R2 . Then,

1
IR [1]f + IR [2]g = I [a Db [1]g c Dd [2]f ] .
! R

5
Proof. We have
IR [1]f + IR

[2]g = a Ib [1][f (b, c) f (b, d)] + c Id [2][g(b, d) g(a, d)] .
By equation (4),
1
f (b, c) f (b, d) = c I [2]c Dd [2]f (b, d) ,
! d
1
g(b, d) g(a, d) = a I [1]a Db [1]g(b, d) .
! b
Therefore,
1 1
IR [1]f + IR [2]g = a Ib [1]
c I [2]c Dd [2]f (b, d) + c Id [2]

a I [1]a Db [1]g(b, d)
! d ! b
1
= I [a Db [1]g c Dd [2]f ] .
! R

Theorem 2 (Fractional Gausss theorem for a parallelepiped). Let F = (Fx , Fy , Fz ) be a contin-

uous vector field in a domain that contains W = [a, b] [c, d] [e, f ]. If the boundary of W is a
closed surface W , then
1
(IW , F ) = IW Div
WF . (5)
!
Proof. The result follows by direct transformations:

(IW , F ) = IW [2, 3]Fx + IW [1, 3]Fy + IW [1, 2]Fz
= c Id [2]e If [3](Fx (b, d, f ) Fx (a, d, f )) + a Ib [1]e If [3](Fy (b, d, f ) Fy (b, c, f ))
+ a Ib [1]c Id [2](Fz (b, d, f ) Fz (b, d, e))
1
= a I [1]c Id [2]e If [3](a Db [1]Fx (b, d, f ) + c Dd [2]Fy (b, d, f ) + e Df [3]Fz (b, d, f ))
! b
1
= IW (a Db [1]Fx + c Dd [2]Fy + e Df [3]Fz )
!
1
= IW DivWF .
!

Let S be an open, oriented, and nonintersecting surface, bounded by a simple and closed curve
S. Let F = [Fx , Fy , Fz ] be a continuous vector eld. Divide up S by sectionally curves into N
subregions S1 , S2 , . . ., SN . Assume that for small enough subregions each Sj can be approximated
by a plane rectangle Aj bounded by curves C1 , C2 , . . ., CN . Apply Greens theorem to each
individual rectangle Aj . Then, summing over the subregions,
X 1 X

IA (A F ) = IA F.
j
! j j
j
j

Furthermore, letting N
X 1 1

IA (
Aj F ) (IS , Curl
SF )
j
! j
!

while X

IA j
F IS F.
j

We conclude with the fractional Stokes formula

1
(I , Curl
S F ) = IS F .
! S

6
4 Fractional calculus of variations with multiple integrals
Consider a function w = w(x, y) with two variables. Assume that the domain of w contains the
rectangle R = [a, b] [c, d] and that w is continuous on R. We introduce the variational functional
dened by

L x, y, w(x, y), a Dx [1]w(x, y), c Dy [2]w(x, y)


J(w) = IR
2
Z bZ d (6)
L x, y, w, a Dx [1]w, c Dy [2]w (b x)1 (d y)1 dydx.


:=
a c

We assume that the lagrangian L is at least of class C 1 . Observe that, using the notation of the
(dt) integral as presented in [28], (6) can be written as
Z b Z d
L x, y, w(x, y), a Dx [1]w(x, y), c Dy [2]w(x, y) (dy) (dx) .


J(w) = (7)
a c

Consider the following FCV problem, which we address as problem (P ).

Problem (P): minimize (or maximize) functional J dened by (7) with respect to the set of
continuous functions w(x, y) such that w|R = (x, y) for some given function .

The continuous functions w(x, y) that assume the prescribed values w|R = (x, y) at all points
of the boundary curve of R are said to be admissible. In order to prove necessary optimality
conditions for problem (P ) we use a two dimensional analogue of fractional integration by parts.
Lemma 1 provides the necessary fractional rule.
Lemma 1. Let F , G, and h be continuous functions whose domains contain R. If h 0 on R,
then
Z b Z d
[G(x, y)a Dx [1]h(x, y) F (x, y)c Dy [2]h(x, y)](b x)1 (d y)1 dydx
a c
Z bZ d
= [(a Dx [1]G(x, y) c Dy [2]F (x, y))h(x, y)](b x)1 (d y)1 dydx .
a c

Proof. By choosing f = F h and g = G h in Greens formula, we obtain

1
IR [1](F h) + IR [2](G h) = I [a Db [1]G h + G a Db [1]h c Dd [2]F h F c Dd [2]h] ,
! R
which is equivalent to
1 1
I [G a Db [1]h F c Dd [2]h] = IR

[1](F h) + IR [2](G h) IR [(a Db [1]G c Dd [2]F )h] .
! R !
In addition, since h 0 on R, we deduce that

IR [G a Db [1]h F c Dd [2]h] = IR

[(a Db [1]G c Dd [2]F )h] .

The lemma is proved.

Theorem 3 (Fractional Euler-Lagrange equation). Let w be a solution to problem (P ). Then w
is a solution of the fractional partial differential equation

3 L a Dx [1]4 L c Dy [2]5 L = 0 , (8)

where by i L, i = 1, . . . , 5, we denote the usual partial derivative of L(, , , , ) with respect to its
i-th argument.

7
Proof. Let h be a continuous function on R such that h 0 on R, and consider an admissible
variation w + h, for taking values on a sucient small neighborhood of zero. Let

j() = J(w + h).

Then j (0) = 0, i.e.,

Z b Z d
2
3 L h + 4 L a Dx [1]h + 5 L c Dy [2]h (b x)1 (d y)1 dydx = 0 .



a c

Using Lemma 1, we obtain

Z b Z d
2 3 L a Dx [1]4 L c Dy [2]5 L h(b x)1 (d y)1 dydx = 0 .


a c

Since h is an arbitrary function, by the fundamental lemma of calculus of variations we deduce

equation (8).
Let us consider now the situation where we do not impose admissible functions w to be of xed
values on R.

Problem (P ): minimize (or maximize) J among the set of all continuous curves w whose
domain contains R.

Theorem 4 (Fractional natural boundary conditions). Let w be a solution to problem (P ). Then

w is a solution of the fractional differential equation (8) and satisfies the following equations:
1. 4 L(a, y, w(a, y), a Da [1]w(a, y), c Dy [2]w(a, y)) = 0 for all y [c, d];
2. 4 L(b, y, w(b, y), a Db [1]w(b, y), c Dy [2]w(b, y)) = 0 for all y [c, d];
3. 5 L(x, c, w(x, c), a Dx [1]w(x, c), c Dc [2]w(x, c)) = 0 for all x [a, b];
4. 5 L(x, d, w(x, d), a Dx [1]w(x, d), c Dd [2]w(x, d)) = 0 for all x [a, b].
Proof. Proceeding as in the proof of Theorem 3 (see also Lemma 1), we obtain
Z b Z d
0 = 2 3 L h + 4 L a Dx [1]h + 5 L c Dy [2]h (b x)1 (d y)1 dydx


a c
Z b Z d
= 2 3 L a Dx [1]4 L c Dy [2]5 L h (b x)1 (d y)1 dydx


a c

+ !IR [2](4 L h) !IR [1](5 L h) , (9)

where h is an arbitrary continuous function. In particular the above equation holds for h 0 on
R. For such h the second member of (9) vanishes and by the fundamental lemma of the calculus
of variations we deduce equation (8). With this result, equation (9) takes the form
Z d
0 = 4 L(b, y, w(b, y), a Db [1]w(b, y), c Dy [2]w(b, y)) h(b, y)(d y)1 dy
cZ
d
4 L(a, y, w(a, y), a Da [1]w(a, y), c Dy [2]w(a, y)) h(a, y)(d y)1 dy
Zc b (10)
5 L(x, c, w(x, c), a Dx [1]w(x, c), c Dc [2]w(x, c)) h(x, c)(b x)1 dx
Zab
+ 5 L(x, d, w(x, d), a Dx [1]w(x, d), c Dd [2]w(x, d)) h(x, d)(b x)1 dx .
a

8
Since h is an arbitrary function, we can consider the subclass of functions for which h 0 on

[a, b] {c} [a, b] {d} {b} [c, d].

For such h equation (10) reduce to

Z d
0= 4 L(a, y, w(a, y), a Da [1]w(a, y), c Dy [2]w(a, y)) h(a, y)(d y)1 dy.
c

By the fundamental lemma of calculus of variations, we obtain

4 L(a, y, w(a, y), a Da [1]w(a, y), c Dy [2]w(a, y)) = 0 for all y [c, d] .

The other natural boundary conditions are proved similarly, by appropriate choices of h.
We can generalize Lemma 1 and Theorem 3 to the three dimensional case in the following way.
Lemma 2. Let A, B, C, and be continuous functions whose domains contain the parallelepiped
W . If 0 on W , then

(A a Db [1] + B c Dd [2] + C e Df [3]) = IW

( a Db [1]A + c Dd [2]B + e Df [3]C ) . (11)
 
IW

Proof. By choosing Fx = A, Fy = B, and Fz = C in (5), we obtain the three dimensional

analogue of integrating by parts:

IW (A a Db [1] + B c Dd [2] + C e Df [3])

( a Db [1]A + c Dd [2]B + e Df [3]C ) + !(IW

 
= IW , [A, B, C]).

In addition, if we assume that 0 on W , we have formula (11).

Theorem 5 (Fractional Euler-Lagrange equation for triple integrals). Let w = w(x, y, z) be a
continuous function whose domain contains W = [a, b] [c, d] [e, f ]. Consider the functional

L x, y, z, w(x, y, z), a Dx [1]w(x, y, z), c Dy [2]w(x, y, z), e Dz [3]w(x, y, z)


J(w) = IW
Z bZ dZ f
L x, y, z, w, a Dx [1]w, c Dy [2]w, e Dz [3]w (dz) (dy) (dx)


=
a c e

defined on the set of continuous curves such that their values on W take prescribed values. Let
L be at least of class C 1 . If w is a minimizer (or maximizer) of J, then w satisfies the fractional
partial differential equation

4 L a Db [1]5 L c Dd [2]6 L e Df [3]7 L = 0.

Proof. A proof can be done similarly to the proof of Theorem 3 where instead of using Lemma 1
we apply Lemma 2.

5 Applications and possible extensions

In classical mechanics, functionals that depend on functions of two or more variables arise in a
natural way, e.g., in mechanical problems involving systems with innitely many degrees of freedom
(string, membranes, etc.). Let us consider a exible elastic string stretched under constant tension
along the x axis with its end points xed at x = 0 and x = L. Let us denote the transverse
displacement of the particle at time t, t1 t t2 , whose equilibrium position is characterized
by its distance x from the end of the string at x = 0 by the function w = w(x, t). Thus w(x, t),
with 0 x L, describes the shape of the string during the course of the vibration. Assume a

9
distribution of mass along the string of density = (x). Then the function that describes the
actual motion of the string is one which renders
t2 L
1
Z Z
J(w) = (wt2 wx2 ) dx dt
2 t1 0

an extremum with respect to functions w(x, t) which describe the actual conguration at t = t1
and t = t2 and which vanish, for all t, at x = 0 and x = L (see [43, p. 95] for more details).
We discuss the description of the motion of the string within the framework of the fractional
dierential calculus. One may assume that, due to some constraints of physical nature, the
dynamics do not depend on the usual partial derivatives but on some fractional derivatives 0 Dx [1]w
and t1 Dt [2]w. For example, we can assume that there is some coarse graining phenomenon see
details in [26, 29]. In this condition, one is entitled to assume again that the actual motion of the
system, according to the principle of Hamilton, is such as to render the action function
1
J(w) = I ( (t1 Dt [2]w)2 (0 Dx [1]w)2 ),
2 R
where R = [0, L][t1, t2 ], an extremum. Note that we recover the classical problem of the vibrating
string when 1 . Applying Theorem 3 we obtain the fractional equation of motion for the
vibrating string:

0 Dx [1]0 D1 [1]w = t D [2]t1 D 2 [2]w .
1 t
This equation becomes the classical equation of the vibrating string (cf., e.g., [43, p. 97]) if 1 .
We remark that the fractional operators are non-local, therefore they are suitable for con-
structing models possessing memory eect. In the above example, we discussed the application of
the fractional dierential calculus to the vibrating string. We started with a variational formula-
tion of the physical process in which we modify the Lagrangian density by replacing integer order
derivatives with fractional ones. Then the action integral in the sense of Hamilton was minimized
and the governing equation of the physical process was obtained in terms of fractional derivatives.
Similarly, many others physical elds can be derived from a suitably dened action functional.
This gives several possible applications of the fractional calculus of variations with multiple inte-
grals as was introduced in this paper, e.g., in describing non-local properties of physical systems
in mechanics (see, e.g., [11, 12, 32, 36, 41]) or electrodynamics (see, e.g., [10, 42]).
We end with some open problems for further investigations. It has been recognized that
fractional calculus is useful in the study of scaling in physical systems [13, 15]. In particular, there
is a direct connection between local fractional dierentiability properties and the dimensions of
Holder exponents of nowhere dierentiable functions, which provide a powerful tool to analyze
the behavior of irregular signals and functions on a fractal set [4, 33]. Fractional calculus appear
naturally, e.g., when working with fractal sets and coarse-graining spaces [29, 30], and fractal
patterns of deformation and vibration in porous media and heterogeneous materials [2]. The
importance of vibrating strings to the fractional calculus has been given in [18], where it is shown
that a fractional Brownian motion can be identied with a string. The usefulness of our fractional
theory of the calculus of variations with multiple integrals in physics, to deal with fractal and
coarse-graining spaces, porous media, and Brownian motions, are questions to be studied. It
should be possible to prove the theorems obtained in this work for a general form of domains and
boundaries; and to develop a fractional calculus of variations with multiple integrals in terms of
other type of fractional operators. An interesting open question consists to generalize the fractional
Noether-type theorems obtained in [7, 21, 22] to the case of several independent variables.

Acknowledgments
Work supported by the Centre for Research on Optimization and Control (CEOC) from the
Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT), conanced by the European Community Fund

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FEDER/POCI 2010. Agnieszka Malinowska is also supported by Bialystok University of Technol-
ogy, via a project of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education Wsparcie miedzynar-
odowej mobilnosci naukowcow.
The authors are grateful to an anonymous referee for useful remarks and references.

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