Optimal error estimates for Legendre expansions of singular functions with fractional derivatives of bounded variation

Abstract: We present a new fractional Taylor formula for singular functions whose Caputo fractional derivatives are of bounded variation. It bridges and ``interpolates" the usual Taylor formulas with two consecutive integer orders. This enables us to obtain an analogous formula for the Legendre expansion coefficient of this type of singular functions, and further derive the optimal (weighted) $L^\infty$-estimates and $L^2$-estimates of the Legendre polynomial approximations. This set of results can enrich the existing theory for $p$ and $hp$ methods for singular problems, and answer some open questions posed in some recent literature.