A Finite-Volume Scheme for Fractional Diffusion on Bounded Domains

Abstract

We propose a new fractional Laplacian for bounded domains, expressed as a conservation law and thus particularly suited to finite-volume schemes. Our approach permits the direct prescription of no-flux boundary conditions. We first show the well-posedness theory for the fractional heat equation. We also develop a numerical scheme, which correctly captures the action of the fractional Laplacian and its anomalous diffusion effect. We benchmark numerical solutions for the L\'evy-Fokker-Planck equation against known analytical solutions. We conclude by numerically exploring properties of these equations with respect to their stationary states and long-time asymptotics.