An Application of the $S$-Functional Calculus to Fractional Diffusion Processes

In this paper we show how the spectral theory based on the notion of $S$-spectrum allows us to study new classes of fractional diffusion and of fractional evolution processes. We prove new results on the quaternionic version of the $H^\infty$ functional calculus and we use it to define the fractional powers of vector operators. The Fourier laws for the propagation of the heat in non homogeneous materials is a vector operator of the form $$T=e_1\,a(x)\partial_{x_1} + e_2\,b(x)\partial_{x_2} + e_3\,c(x)\partial_{x_3},$$ where $e_\ell$, $e_\ell=1,2,3$ are orthogonal unit vectors, $a$, $b$, $c$ are suitable real valued function that depend on the space variables $x=(x_1,x_2,x_3)$ and possibly also on time. In this paper we develop a general theory to define the fractional powers of quaternionic operators which contain as a particular case the operator $T$ so we can define the non local version $T^\alpha$, for $\alpha\in (0,1)$, of the Fourier law defined by $T$. Our new mathematical tools open the way to a large class of fractional evolution problems that can be defined and studied using our theory based on the $S$-spectrum for vector operators. This paper is devoted to researchers in different research fields such as: fractional diffusion and fractional evolution problems, partial differential equations, non commutative operator theory, and quaternionic analysis.