Kolmogorov $N$-widths are an approximation theory concept that, for a given problem, yields information about the optimal rate of convergence attainable by any numerical method applied to that problem. We survey sharp bounds recently obtained for the $N$-widths of certain singularly perturbed convection-diffusion and reaction-diffusion boundary value problems.

We analyze a general multigrid method with aggressive coarsening and polynomial smoothing. We use a special polynomial smoother that originates in the context of the smoothed aggregation method. Assuming the degree of the smoothing polynomial is, on each level $k$, at least $C{h}_{k+1}/h_k$, we prove a convergence result independent of $h_{k+1}/h_k$. The suggested smoother is cheaper than the overlapping Schwarz method that allows to prove the same result. Moreover, unlike in the case of the overlapping Schwarz method, analysis...

Singularly perturbed problems of convection-diffusion type cannot be solved numerically in a completely satisfactory manner by standard numerical methods. This indicates the need for robust or $ϵ$-uniform methods. In this paper we derive new conditions for such schemes with special emphasize to parabolic layers.

We study new a posteriori error estimates of the mixed finite element methods for general optimal control problems governed by nonlinear parabolic equations. The state and the co-state are discretized by the high order Raviart-Thomas mixed finite element spaces and the control is approximated by piecewise constant functions. We derive a posteriori error estimates in $L^{\infty }(J;L^2\left(\Omega \right))$-norm and $L^2(J;L^2\left(\Omega \right))$-norm for both the state, the co-state and the control approximation. Such estimates, which seem to be new, are an important...

In this paper we introduce and analyze new mixed finite volume methods for second order elliptic problems which are based on H(div)-conforming approximations for the vector variable and discontinuous approximations for the scalar variable. The discretization is fulfilled by combining the ideas of the traditional finite volume box method and the local discontinuous Galerkin method. We propose two different types of methods, called Methods I and II, and show that they have distinct advantages over...

In this paper we are concerned with a distributed optimal control problem governed by an elliptic partial differential equation. State constraints of box type are considered. We show that the Lagrange multiplier associated with the state constraints, which is known to be a measure, is indeed more regular under quite general assumptions. We discretize the problem by continuous piecewise linear finite elements and we are able to prove that, for the case of a linear equation, the order of convergence...

This paper presents a unified framework for the dual-weighted residual (DWR) method for a class of nonconforming FEM. Our approach is based on a modification of the dual problem and uses various ideas from literature which are combined in a new manner. The results are new error identities for some nonconforming FEM. Additionally, a posteriori error estimates with respect to the discrete $H^1$-seminorm are derived.

We provide new sufficient conditions for the convergence of the secant method to a locally unique solution of a nonlinear equation in a Banach space. Our new idea uses “Lipschitz-type” and center-“Lipschitz-type” instead of just “Lipschitz-type” conditions on the divided difference of the operator involved. It turns out that this way our error bounds are more precise than the earlier ones and under our convergence hypotheses we can cover cases where the earlier conditions are violated.

We compute numerically the minimizers of the Dirichlet energy$$E\left(u\right)=\frac{1}{2}{\int }_{B^2}{\left|\nabla u\right|}^2\mathrm{d}x$$among maps $u:B^2\to S^2$ from the unit disc into the unit sphere that satisfy a boundary condition and a degree condition. We use a Sobolev gradient algorithm for the minimization and we prove that its continuous version preserves the degree. For the discretization of the problem we use continuous $P_1$ finite elements. We propose an original mesh-refining strategy needed to preserve the degree with the discrete version of the algorithm (which is a preconditioned...

We compute numerically the minimizers of the Dirichlet energy $$E\left(u\right)=\frac{1}{2}{\int }_{B^2}{\left|\nabla u\right|}^2\mathrm{d}x$$ among maps $u:B^2\to S^2$ from the unit disc into the unit sphere that satisfy a boundary condition and a degree condition. We use a Sobolev gradient algorithm for the minimization and we prove that its continuous version preserves the degree. For the discretization of the problem we use continuous P1 finite elements. We propose an original mesh-refining strategy needed to preserve the degree with the discrete version of the algorithm (which...

Newton's iteration is studied for the numerical solution of an elliptic PDE with nonlinear boundary conditions. At each iteration of Newton's method, a conjugate gradient based decomposition method is applied to the matrix of the linearized system. The decomposition is such that all the remaining linear systems have the same constant matrix. Numerical results confirm the savings with respect to the computational cost, compared with the classical Newton method with factorization at each step.

We use a combination of modified Newton method and Tikhonov regularization to obtain a stable approximate solution for nonlinear ill-posed Hammerstein-type operator equations KF(x) = y. It is assumed that the available data is $y^{\delta }$ with $\left|\right|y-y^{\delta }\left|\right|\le \delta$, K: Z → Y is a bounded linear operator and F: X → Z is a nonlinear operator where X,Y,Z are Hilbert spaces. Two cases of F are considered: where $F^{\text{'}}{\left(x₀\right)}^{-1}$ exists (F’(x₀) is the Fréchet derivative of F at an initial guess x₀) and where F is a monotone operator. The parameter...

The paper deals with error estimates and lower bound approximations of the Steklov eigenvalue problems on convex or concave domains by nonconforming finite element methods. We consider four types of nonconforming finite elements: Crouzeix-Raviart, $Q_1^{\mathrm{rot}}$, $E{Q}_1^{\mathrm{rot}}$ and enriched Crouzeix-Raviart. We first derive error estimates for the nonconforming finite element approximations of the Steklov eigenvalue problem and then give the analysis of lower bound approximations. Some numerical results are presented to...