Fourier transforms, fractional derivatives, and a little bit of quantum mechanics

Abstract: We discuss some of the mathematical properties of the fractional derivative defined by means of Fourier transforms. We first consider its action on the set of test functions $\Sc(\mathbb R)$, and then we extend it to its dual set, $\Sc'(\mathbb R)$, the set of tempered distributions, provided they satisfy some mild conditions. We discuss some examples, and we show how our definition can be used in a quantum mechanical context.