Ten equivalent definitions of the fractional Laplace operator

Abstract

This article reviews several definitions of the fractional Laplace operator (-Delta)^{alpha/2} (0 < alpha < 2) in R^d, also known as the Riesz fractional derivative operator, as an operator on Lebesgue spaces L^p, on the space C_0 of continuous functions vanishing at infinity and on the space C_{bu} of bounded uniformly continuous functions. Among these definitions are ones involving singular integrals, semigroups of operators, Bochner's subordination and harmonic extensions. We collect and extend known results in order to prove that all these definitions agree: on each of the function spaces considered, the corresponding operators have common domain and they coincide on that common domain.