Practical stability with respect to initial time difference for Caputo fractional differential equations

Practical stability with initial data difference for nonlinear Caputo fractional differential equations is studied. This type of stability generalizes known concepts of stability in the literature. It enables us to compare the behavior of two solutions when both initial values and initial intervals are different. In this paper the concept of practical stability with initial time difference is generalized to Caputo fractional differential equations. A definition of the derivative of Lyapunov like function along the given nonlinear Caputo fractional differential equation is given. Comparison results using this definition and scalar fractional differential equations are proved. Sufficient conditions for several types of practical stability with initial time difference for nonlinear Caputo fractional differential equations are obtained via Lyapunov functions. Some examples are given to illustrate the results. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.