Positive solutions for Dirichlet problems of singular nonlinear fractional differential equations

In this paper, we investigate the existence of positive solutions for the singular fractional boundary value problem: Dαu(t)+f(t,u(t), Dμu(t))=0, u(0)=u(1)=0, where 1<α<2, 0<μ≤α-1, Dα is the standard Riemann-Liouville fractional derivative, f is a positive Carathéodory function and f(t,x,y) is singular at x=0. By means of a fixed point theorem on a cone, the existence of positive solutions is obtained. The proofs are based on regularization and sequential techniques. © 2010 Elsevier Inc.