Fractional Variational Problems Depending on Fractional Derivatives of Differentiable Functions with Application to Nonlinear Chaotic Systems

Abstract

We formulate a necessary condition for functionals with Lagrangians depending on fractional derivatives of differentiable functions to possess an extremum. The Euler-Lagrange equation we obtained generalizes previously known results in the literature and enables us to construct simple Lagrangians for nonlinear systems. As examples of application, we obtain Lagrangians for some chaotic dynamical systems.