Lattice fractional Laplacian and its continuum limit kernel on the finite cyclic chain

The aim of this paper is to deduce a discrete version of the fractional Laplacian in matrix form defined on the 1D periodic (cyclically closed) linear chain of finite length. We obtain explicit expressions for this fractional Laplacian matrix and deduce also its periodic continuum limit kernel. The continuum limit kernel gives an exact expression for the fractional Laplacian (Riesz fractional derivative) on the finite periodic string. In this approach we introduce two material parameters, the particle mass μ and a frequency Ωα. The requirement of finiteness of the the total mass and total elastic energy in the continuum limit (lattice constant h → 0) leads to scaling relations for the two parameters, namely μ ∼ h and View the MathML source. The present approach can be generalized to define lattice fractional calculus on periodic lattices in full analogy to the usual ‘continuous’ fractional calculus.