Variational formulation for the stationary fractional advection dispersion equation

In this article a theoretical framework for the Galerkin finite element approximation to the steady state fractional advection dispersion equation is presented. Appropriate fractional derivative spaces are defined and shown to be equivalent to the usual fractional dimension Sobolev spaces H-s. Existence and uniqueness results are proven, and error estimates for the Galerkin approximation derived. Numerical results are included that confirm the theoretical estimates. (C) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.