Three-Point Compact Approximation for the Caputo Fractional Derivative

In this paper we derive the fourth-order asymptotic expansions of the trapezoidal approximation for the fractional integral and the $L1$ approximation for the Caputo derivative. We use the expansion of the $L1$ approximation to obtain the three point compact approximation for the Caputo derivative \begin{equation*} \dfrac{1}{\Gamma(2-\alpha)h^\alpha}\sum_{k=0}^{n} \delta_k^{(\alpha)} y_{n-k}=\dfrac{13}{12}y^{(\alpha)}_n-\dfrac{1}{6}y^{(\alpha)}_{n-1}+\dfrac{1}{12}y^{(\alpha)}_{n-2}+O\left(h^{3-\alpha}\right), \end{equation*} with weights $\delta_0^{(\alpha)}=1-\zeta(\alpha-1),\; \delta_n^{(\alpha)}=(n-1)^{1 -\alpha}-n^{1-\alpha},$ $$\delta_1^{(\alpha)}=2^{1-\alpha}-2+2\zeta(\alpha-1),\; \delta_2^{(\alpha)}=1-2^{2-\alpha}+3^{1-\alpha}-\zeta(\alpha-1),$$ $$\delta_k^{(\alpha)}=(k-1)^{1-\alpha}-2k^{1-a}+(k+1)^{1-\alpha},\quad (k=3\cdots,n-1),$$ where $y$ is a differentiable function which satisfies $y'(0)=0$. The numerical solutions of the fractional relaxation and the time-fractional subdiffusion equations are discussed.