We consider the unified transform method, also known as the Fokas method, for solving partial differential equations. We adapt and modify the methodology, incorporating new ideas where necessary, in order to apply it to solve a large class of partial
differential equations of fractional order. We demonstrate the applicability of the method by implementing it to solve a model fractional problem.
A new method for the solution of initial-boundary value problems for textit{linear} and textit{integrable nonlinear} evolution PDEs in one spatial dimension was introduced by one of the authors in 1997 cite{F1997}. This approach was subsequently exte
nded to initial-boundary value problems for evolution PDEs in two spatial dimensions, first in the case of linear PDEs cite{F2002b} and, more recently, in the case of integrable nonlinear PDEs, for the Davey-Stewartson and the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili II equations on the half-plane (see cite{FDS2009} and cite{MF2011} respectively). In this work, we study the analogous problem for the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili I equation; in particular, through the simultaneous spectral analysis of the associated Lax pair via a d-bar formalism, we are able to obtain an integral representation for the solution, which involves certain transforms of all the initial and the boundary values, as well as an identity, the so-called global relation, which relates these transforms in appropriate regions of the complex spectral plane.
