Systems of fractional-order differential equations present stability properties which differ in a substantial way from those of systems of integer order. In this paper, a detailed analysis of the stability of linear systems of fractional differential equations with Caputo derivative is proposed. Starting from the well-known Matignon’s results on stability of single-order systems, for which a different proof is provided together with a clarification of a limit case, the investigation is moved towards multi-order systems as well. Due to the key role of the Mittag–Leffler function played in representing the solution of linear systems of FDEs, a detailed analysis of the asymptotic behavior of this function and of its derivatives is also proposed. Some numerical experiments are presented to illustrate the main results.

For two‐dimensional autonomous linear incommensurate fractional‐order dynamical systems with Caputo derivatives of different orders, necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained for the asymptotic stability and instability of the null solution. These conditions are expressed in terms of the elements of the system's matrix, as well as of the fractional orders of the Caputo derivatives, leading to a generalization of the well known Routh‐Hurwitz conditions. These theoretical results are then used to investigate the stability properties of a two‐dimensional fractional‐order FitzHugh‐Nagumo neuronal model. The occurrence of Hopf bifurcations is also discussed. Numerical simulations are provided with the aim of exemplifying the theoretical results, revealing rich spiking behavior, in comparison with the classical integer‐order FitzHugh‐Nagumo model.

Necessary and sufficient stability and instability conditions are reviewed and extended for multi-term homogeneous linear fractional differential equations with Caputo derivatives and constant coefficients. A comprehensive review of the state of the art regarding the stability analysis of two-term and three-term fractional-order differential equations is provided, which is then extended to the case of four-term fractional-order differential equations. The stability and instability properties are characterized with respect to the coefficients of the multi-term fractional differential equations, leading to both fractional-order-dependent and fractional-order-independent characterizations. In the general case, fractional-order-independent stability and instability properties are described for fractional-order differential equations with an arbitrary number of fractional derivatives.

The aim of this work is to describe the dynamics of a fractional-order coupled FitzHugh–Nagumo neuronal model. The equilibrium states are analyzed in terms of their stability properties, both dependently and independently of the fractional orders of the Caputo derivatives, based on recently established theoretical results. Numerical simulations are shown to clarify and exemplify the theoretical results.

Linear autonomous incommensurate systems that consist of two fractional-order difference equations of Caputo-type are studied in terms of their asymptotic stability and instability properties. More precisely, the asymptotic stability of the considered linear system is fully characterized, in terms of the fractional orders of the considered Caputo-type differences, as well as the elements of the linear system’s matrix and the discretization step size. Moreover, fractional-order-independent sufficient conditions are also derived for the instability of the system under investigation. With the aim of exemplifying the theoretical results, a fractional-order discrete version of the FitzHugh–Nagumo neuronal model is constructed and analyzed. Furthermore, numerical simulations are undertaken in order to substantiate the theoretical findings, showing that the membrane potential may exhibit complex bursting behavior for suitable choices of the model parameters and fractional orders of the Caputo-type differences.