De Leibniz a los reactores nucleares

el desarrollo del cálculo fraccional

Abstract

Fractional calculus can be understood as a generalization of the classical concepts of derivatives and integrals, that provides new interpretations to well-known physical phenomena. Its development can be traced to an epistolary correspondence between Gottfried Leibniz and Guillaume de l’Hôpital in the XVII century, but their formal applications started in the last decades of the current era. Particularly, there are important applications of Fractional calculus in the nuclear engineering field, that improve classical models and develop a more realistic description of energy processes that take place in a nuclear reactor. In the present article of scientific dissemination, a gentle introduction to the meaning and to the concept of fractional calculus is given, where the main ideas and motivations of the development of this field are analyzed. Additionally, a brief discussion about its importance in the nuclear engineering field is carried out, focusing in the reformulating of mass balance equations.