A Hybrid Numerical Scheme for the Time-Fractional Telegraph Equation

Document Type : Research article

Authors

Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

Abstract

This study introduces a hybrid approach based on a finite difference scheme and radial basis functions (RBF) for solving the Caputo time-fractional telegraph equation numerically. To handle the temporal fractional derivatives, a finite difference formulation of the L1/L2 type is adopted, while the spatial derivatives are approximated using an RBF collocation technique. This combination results in a  discretized system characterized by a sparse matrix structure. Through the application of energy methods, the stability and convergence assessment of the temporal discretization is conducted, yielding a theoretical error estimate of $\mathcal{O}(\delta_t^{3-\alpha})$ in the time direction. The reliability and effectiveness of the proposed numerical scheme are verified through a representative test problem, confirming the capability of the proposed method to achieve high accuracy.

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Volume 11, Issue 2
September 2026
Pages 311-323
  • Receive Date: 18 February 2026
  • Revise Date: 22 March 2026
  • Accept Date: 27 May 2026
  • Publish Date: 01 September 2026