Ricardo H. Nochetto

Ricardo H. Nochetto, Enrique Otarola, Abner J. Salgado

The purpose of this work is the study of solution techniques for problems involving fractional powers of symmetric coercive elliptic operators in a bounded domain with Dirichlet boundary conditions. These operators can be realized as the Dirichlet to Neumann map for a degenerate/singular elliptic problem posed on a semi-infinite cylinder, which we analyze in the framework of weighted Sobolev spaces. Motivated by the rapid decay of the solution of this problem, we propose a truncation that is suitable for numerical approximation. We discretize this truncation using first degree tensor product finite elements. We derive a priori error estimates in weighted Sobolev spaces. The estimates exhibit optimal regularity but suboptimal order for quasi-uniform meshes. For anisotropic meshes, instead, they are quasi-optimal in both order and regularity. We present numerical experiments to illustrate the method's performance.

Ricardo H. Nochetto, Enrique Otarola, Abner J. Salgado

We study solution techniques for parabolic equations with fractional diffusion and Caputo fractional time derivative, the latter being discretized and analyzed in a general Hilbert space setting. The spatial fractional diffusion is realized as the Dirichlet-to-Neumann map for a nonuniformly elliptic problem posed on a semi-infinite cylinder in one more spatial dimension. We write our evolution problem as a quasi-stationary elliptic problem with a dynamic boundary condition. We propose and analyze an implicit fully-discrete scheme: first-degree tensor product finite elements in space and an implicit finite difference discretization in time. We prove stability and error estimates for this scheme.

Ricardo H. Nochetto, Abner J. Salgado, Ignacio Tomas

We develop a model describing the behavior of two-phase ferrofluid flows using phase field-techniques and present an energy-stable numerical scheme for it. For a simplified, yet physically realistic, version of this model and the corresponding numerical scheme we prove, in addition to stability, convergence and as by-product existence of solutions. With a series of numerical experiments we illustrate the potential of these simple models and their ability to capture basic phenomenological features of ferrofluids such as the Rosensweig instability.

Andrea Bonito, Ronald A. DeVore, Ricardo H. Nochetto

Elliptic partial differential equations (PDEs) with discontinuous diffusion coefficients occur in application domains such as diffusions through porous media, electro-magnetic field propagation on heterogeneous media, and diffusion processes on rough surfaces. The standard approach to numerically treating such problems using finite element methods is to assume that the discontinuities lie on the boundaries of the cells in the initial triangulation. However, this does not match applications where discontinuities occur on curves, surfaces, or manifolds, and could even be unknown beforehand. One of the obstacles to treating such discontinuity problems is that the usual perturbation theory for elliptic PDEs assumes bounds for the distortion of the coefficients in the $L_\infty$ norm and this in turn requires that the discontinuities are matched exactly when the coefficients are approximated. We present a new approach based on distortion of the coefficients in an $L_q$ norm with $q<\infty$ which therefore does not require the exact matching of the discontinuities. We then use this new distortion theory to formulate new adaptive finite element methods (AFEMs) for such discontinuity problems. We show that such AFEMs are optimal in the sense of distortion versus number of computations, and report insightful numerical results supporting our analysis.

Ricardo H. Nochetto, Abner J. Salgado, Shawn W. Walker

We introduce a diffuse interface model for the phenomenon of electrowetting on dielectric and present an analysis of the arising system of equations. Moreover, we study discretization techniques for the problem. The model takes into account different material parameters on each phase and incorporates the most important physical processes, such as incompressibility, electrostatics and dynamic contact lines; necessary to properly reflect the relevant phenomena. The arising nonlinear system couples the variable density incompressible Navier-Stokes equations for velocity and pressure with a Cahn-Hilliard type equation for the phase variable and chemical potential, a convection diffusion equation for the electric charges and a Poisson equation for the electric potential. Numerical experiments are presented, which illustrate the wide range of effects the model is able to capture, such as splitting and coalescence of droplets.

Ricardo H. Nochetto, Abner J. Salgado, Ignacio Tomas

We discuss the equations describing the motion of ferrofluids subject to an external magnetic field. We concentrate on the model proposed by R. Rosensweig, provide an appropriate definition for the effective magnetizing field, and explain the simplifications behind this definition. We show that this system is formally energy stable, and devise a numerical scheme that mimics the same stability estimate. We prove that solutions of the numerical scheme always exist and, under further simplifying assumptions, that the discrete solutions converge. We also discuss alternative formulations proposed in pre-existing work, primarily involving a regularization of the magnetization equation and supply boundary conditions which lead to an energy stable system. We present a series of numerical experiments which illustrate the potential of the scheme in the context of real applications.

Harbir Antil, Scott E. Field, Frank Herrmann et al.

We present an algorithm to generate application-specific, global reduced order quadratures (ROQ) for multiple fast evaluations of weighted inner products between parameterized functions. If a reduced basis (RB) or any other projection-based model reduction technique is applied, the dimensionality of integrands is reduced dramatically; however, the cost of approximating the integrands by projection still scales as the size of the original problem. In contrast, using discrete empirical interpolation (DEIM) points as ROQ nodes leads to a computational cost which depends linearly on the dimension of the reduced space. Generation of a reduced basis via a greedy procedure requires a training set, which for products of functions can be very large. Since this direct approach can be impractical in many applications, we propose instead a two-step greedy targeted towards approximation of such products. We present numerical experiments demonstrating the accuracy and the efficiency of the two-step approach. The presented ROQ are expected to display very fast convergence whenever there is regularity with respect to parameter variation. We find that for the particular application here considered, one driven by gravitational wave physics, the two-step approach speeds up the offline computations to build the ROQ by more than two orders of magnitude. Furthermore, the resulting ROQ rule is found to converge exponentially with the number of nodes, and a factor of ~50 savings, without loss of accuracy, is observed in evaluations of inner products when ROQ are used as a downsampling strategy for equidistant samples using the trapezoidal rule. While the primary focus of this paper is on quadrature rules for inner products of parameterized functions, our method can be easily adapted to integrations of single parameterized functions, and some examples of this type are considered.

Ricardo H. Nochetto, Dimitrios Ntogkas, Wujun Zhang

We propose a two-scale finite element method for the Monge-Ampère equation with Dirichlet boundary condition in dimension $d\ge2$ and prove that it converges to the viscosity solution uniformly. The method is inspired by a finite difference method of Froese and Oberman, but is defined on unstructured grids and relies on two separate scales: the first one is the mesh size $h$ and the second one is a larger scale that controls appropriate directions and substitutes the need of a wide stencil. The main tools for the analysis are a discrete comparison principle and discrete barrier functions that control the behavior of the discrete solution, which is continuous piecewise linear, both close to the boundary and in the interior of the domain.

Ricardo H. Nochetto, Soeren Bartels, Abner J. Salgado

We propose and analyze an algorithm for the solution of the $L^2$-subgradient flow of the total variation functional. The algorithm involves no regularization, thus the numerical solution preserves the main features that motivate practitioners to consider this type of energy. We propose an iterative scheme for the solution of the arising problems, show that the iterations converge, and develop a stopping criterion for them. We present numerical experiments which illustrate the power of the method, explore the solution behavior, and compare with regularized flows.

Claudio Canuto, Ricardo H. Nochetto, Rob Stevenson et al.

We design and analyze an adaptive $hp$-finite element method (hp-AFEM) in dimensions $n=1,2$. The algorithm consists of iterating two routines: hp-NEARBEST finds a near-best $hp$-approximation of the current discrete solution and data to a desired accuracy, and REDUCE improves the discrete solution to a finer but comparable accuracy. The former hinges on a recent algorithm by Binev for adaptive $hp$-approximation, and acts as a coarsening step. We prove convergence and instance optimality.

Ricardo H. Nochetto, Abner J. Salgado, Ignacio Tomas

The unsteady Micropolar Navier-Stokes Equations (MNSE) are a system of parabolic partial differential equations coupling linear velocity and pressure with angular velocity: material particles have both translational and rotational degrees of freedom. We propose and analyze a first order semi-implicit fully-discrete scheme for the MNSE, which decouples the computation of the linear and angular velocities, is unconditionally stable and delivers optimal convergence rates under assumptions analogous to those used for the Navier-Stokes equations. With the help of our scheme we explore some qualitative properties of the MNSE related to ferrofluid manipulation and pumping. Finally, we propose a second order scheme and show that it is almost unconditionally stable.

Ricardo H. Nochetto, Abner J. Salgado

We construct, on continuous $Q_1$ finite elements over Cartesian meshes, an interpolation operator that does not increase the total variation. The operator is stable in $L^1$ and exhibits second order approximation properties. With the help of it we provide improved error estimates for discrete minimizers of the total variation denoising problem and for total variation flows.

Soeren Bartels, Andrea Bonito, Anastasia Muliana et al.

We present a mathematical model of polymer bilayers that undergo large bending deformations when actuated by non-mechanical stimuli such as thermal effects. The simple model captures a large class of nonlinear bending effects and can be discretized with standard plate elements. We devise a fully practical iterative scheme and apply it to the simulation of folding of several practically useful compliant structures comprising of thin elastic layers.

Harbir Antil, Ricardo H. Nochetto, Pablo Venegas

Motivated by problems arising in magnetic drug targeting, we propose to generate an almost constant Kelvin (magnetic) force in a target subdomain, moving along a prescribed trajectory. This is carried out by solving a minimization problem with a tracking type cost functional. The magnetic sources are assumed to be dipoles and the control variables are the magnetic field intensity, the source location and the magnetic field direction. The resulting magnetic field is shown to effectively steer the drug concentration, governed by a drift-diffusion PDE, from an initial to a desired location with limited spreading.

Sören Bartels, Lars Diening, Ricardo H. Nochetto

A popular and efficient discretization of evolutions involving the singular $p$-Laplace operator is based on a factorization of the differential operator into a linear part which is treated implicitly and a regularized singular factor which is treated explicitly. It is shown that an unconditional energy stability property for this semi-implicit time stepping strategy holds. Related error estimates depend critically on a required regularization parameter. Numerical experiments reveal reduced experimental convergence rates for smaller regularization parameters and thereby confirm that this dependence cannot be avoided in general.

Claudio Canuto, Ricardo H. Nochetto, Rob Stevenson et al.

We consider the standard adaptive finite element loop SOLVE, ESTIMATE, MARK, REFINE, with ESTIMATE being implemented using the $p$-robust equilibrated flux estimator, and MARK being Dörfler marking. As a refinement strategy we employ $p$-refinement. We investigate the question by which amount the local polynomial degree on any marked patch has to be increase in order to achieve a $p$-independent error reduction. The resulting adaptive method can be turned into an instance optimal $hp$-adaptive method by the addition of a coarsening routine.

Ricardo H. Nochetto, Dimitrios Ntogkas, Wujun Zhang

In this paper we continue the analysis of the two-scale method for the Monge-Ampère equation for dimension $d \geq 2$ introduced in [10]. We prove continuous dependence of discrete solutions on data that in turn hinges on a discrete version of the Alexandroff estimate. They are both instrumental to prove pointwise error estimates for classical solutions with Hölder and Sobolev regularity. We also derive convergence rates for viscosity solutions with bounded Hessians which may be piecewise smooth or degenerate.

Gonzalo A. Benavides, Ricardo H. Nochetto, Mansur Shakipov

Starting from Maxwell's and linear momentum balance equations, we derive a ferrofluid model using the generalized Onsager's principle. Guided by a discrete perturbation estimate, we design and analyze families of Galerkin schemes that converge to sufficiently regular solutions and derive error estimates. Finally, we numerically explore the model with our proposed method.

Claudio Canuto, Ricardo H. Nochetto, Marco Verani

We study the performance of adaptive Fourier-Galerkin methods in a periodic box in $\mathbb{R}^d$ with dimension $d\ge 1$. These methods offer unlimited approximation power only restricted by solution and data regularity. They are of intrinsic interest but are also a first step towards understanding adaptivity for the $hp$-FEM. We examine two nonlinear approximation classes, one classical corresponding to algebraic decay of Fourier coefficients and another associated with exponential decay. We study the sparsity classes of the residual and show that they are the same as the solution for the algebraic class but not for the exponential one. This possible sparsity degradation for the exponential class can be compensated with coarsening, which we discuss in detail. We present several adaptive Fourier algorithms, and prove their contraction and optimal cardinality properties.

Harbir Antil, Ricardo H. Nochetto, Pablo Venegas

In order to generate a desired Kelvin (magnetic) force in a target subdomain moving along a prescribed trajectory, we propose a minimization problem with a tracking type cost functional. We use the so-called dipole approximation to realize the magnetic field, where the location and the direction of the magnetic sources are assumed to be fixed. The magnetic field intensity acts as the control and exhibits limiting pointwise constraints. We address two specific problems: the first one corresponds to a fixed final time whereas the second one deals with an unknown force to minimize the final time. We prove existence of solutions and deduce local uniqueness provided that a second order sufficient condition is valid. We use the classical backward Euler scheme for time discretization. For both problems we prove the $H^1$-weak convergence of this semi-discrete numerical scheme. This result is motivated by $Γ$-convergence and does not require second order sufficient condition. If the latter holds then we prove $H^1$-strong local convergence. We report computational results to assess the performance of the numerical methods. As an application, we study the control of magnetic nanoparticles as those used in magnetic drug delivery, where the optimized Kelvin force is used to transport the drug to a desired location.

Harbir Antil, Ricardo H. Nochetto, Patrick Sodré

We present a finite element method along with its analysis for the optimal control of a model free boundary problem with surface tension effects, formulated and studied in \cite{HAntil_RHNochetto_PSodre_2014a}. The state system couples the Laplace equation in the bulk with the Young-Laplace equation on the free boundary to account for surface tension. We first prove that the state and adjoint system have the requisite regularity for the error analysis (strong solutions). We discretize the state, adjoint and control variables via piecewise linear finite elements and show optimal $O(h)$ error estimates for all variables, including the control. This entails using the second order sufficient optimality conditions of \cite{HAntil_RHNochetto_PSodre_2014a}, and the first order necessary optimality conditions for both the continuous and discrete systems. We conclude with two numerical examples which examine the various error estimates.

Claudio Canuto, Ricardo H. Nochetto, Marco Verani

As a first step towards a mathematically rigorous understanding of adaptive spectral/$hp$ discretizations of elliptic boundary-value problems, we study the performance of adaptive Legendre-Galerkin methods in one space dimension. These methods offer unlimited approximation power only restricted by solution and data regularity. Our investigation is inspired by a similar study that we recently carried out for Fourier-Galerkin methods in a periodic box. We first consider an "ideal" algorithm, which we prove to be convergent at a fixed rate. Next we enhance its performance, consistently with the expected fast error decay of high-order methods, by activating a larger set of degrees of freedom at each iteration. We guarantee optimality (in the non-linear approximation sense) by incorporating a coarsening step. Optimality is measured in terms of certain sparsity classes of the Gevrey type, which describe a (sub-)exponential decay of the best approximation error.

Claudio Canuto, Ricardo H. Nochetto, Rob Stevenson et al.

Both practice and analysis of adaptive $p$-FEMs and $hp$-FEMs raise the question what increment in the current polynomial degree $p$ guarantees a $p$-independent reduction of the Galerkin error. We answer this question for the $p$-FEM in the simplified context of homogeneous Dirichlet problems for the Poisson equation in the two dimensional unit square with polynomial data of degree $p$. We show that an increment proportional to $p$ yields a $p$-robust error reduction and provide computational evidence that a constant increment does not.

Claudio Canuto, Ricardo H. Nochetto, Rob Stevenson et al.

The convergence and optimality theory of adaptive Galerkin methods is almost exclusively based on the Dörfler marking. This entails a fixed parameter and leads to a contraction constant bounded below away from zero. For spectral Galerkin methods this is a severe limitation which affects performance. We present a dynamic marking strategy that allows for a super-linear relation between consecutive discretization errors, and show exponential convergence with linear computational complexity whenever the solution belongs to a Gevrey approximation class.

Ricardo H. Nochetto, Benjamin Stamm

We present a residual-based a posteriori error estimate for the Electric Field Integral Equation (EFIE) on a bounded polyhedron. The EFIE is a variational equation formulated in a negative order Sobolev space on the surface of the polyhedron. We express the estimate in terms of square-integrable and thus computable quantities and derive global lower and upper bounds (up to oscillation terms).

Bin Zheng, Luoping Chen, Xiaozhe Hu et al.

In this paper, we study fast iterative solvers for the solution of fourth order parabolic equations discretized by mixed finite element methods. We propose to use consistent mass matrix in the discretization and use lumped mass matrix to construct efficient preconditioners. We provide eigenvalue analysis for the preconditioned system and estimate the convergence rate of the preconditioned GMRes method. Furthermore, we show that these preconditioners only need to be solved inexactly by optimal multigrid algorithms. Our numerical examples indicate that the proposed preconditioners are very efficient and robust with respect to both discretization parameters and diffusion coefficients. We also investigate the performance of multigrid algorithms with either collective smoothers or distributive smoothers when solving the preconditioner systems.

Wenbo Li, Ricardo H. Nochetto

We develop two-scale methods for computing the convex envelope of a continuous function over a convex domain in any dimension.This hinges on a fully nonlinear obstacle formulation [A. M. Oberman, "The convex envelope is the solution of a nonlinear obstacle problem", Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 135(6):1689--1694, 2007]. We prove convergence and error estimates in the max norm. The proof utilizes a discrete comparison principle, a discrete barrier argument to deal with Dirichlet boundary values, and the property of flatness in one direction within the non-contact set. Our error analysis extends to a modified version of the finite difference wide stencil method of [A. M. Oberman, "Computing the convex envelope using a nonlinear partial differential equation", Math. Models Meth. Appl. Sci, 18(05):759--780, 2008].

Harbir Antil, Ricardo H. Nochetto, Patrick Sodre

We prove well-posedness in reflexive Sobolev spaces of weak solutions to the stationary Stokes problem with Navier slip boundary condition over bounded domains $Ω$ of $\mathbb{R}^n$ of class $W^{2-1/s}_s$, $s>n$. Since such domains are of class $C^{1,1-n/s}$, our result improves upon the recent one by Amrouche-Seloula, who assume $Ω$ to be of class $C^{1,1}$. We deal with the slip boundary condition directly via a new localization technique, which features domain, space and operator decompositions. To flatten the boundary of $Ω$ locally, we construct a novel $W^2_s$ diffeomorphism for $Ω$ of class $W^{2-1/s}_s$. The fractional regularity gain, from $2-1/s$ to $2$, guarantees that the Piola transform is of class $W^1_s$. This allows us to transform $W^1_r$ vector fields without changing their regularity, provided $r\le s$, and preserve the unit normal which is Hölder. It is in this sense that the boundary regularity $W^{2-1/s}_s$ seems to be minimal.

Ricardo H. Nochetto, Dimitrios Ntogkas

We propose an extension to our monotone and convergent method for the Monge-Ampère equation in dimension $d \geq2$, that incorporates the idea of filtered schemes. The method combines our original monotone operator with a more accurate non-monotone modification, using an appropriately chosen filter. This results in a remarkable improvement of accuracy, but without sacrificing the convergence to the unique viscosity solution.

Ricardo H. Nochetto, Wujun Zhang

We study the Oliker-Prussner method exploiting its geometric nature. We derive discrete stability and continuous dependence estimates in the max-norm by using a discrete Alexandroff estimate and the Brunn-Minkowski inequality. We show that the method is exact for all convex quadratic polynomials provided the underlying set of nodes is translation invariant within the domain; nodes still conform to the domain boundary. This gives a suitable notion of operator consistency which, combined with stability, leads to pointwise rates of convergence for classical and non-classical solutions of the Monge-Ampère equation.

Ricardo H. Nochetto, Wujun Zhang

We design a two-scale finite element method (FEM) for linear elliptic PDEs in non-divergence form $A(x) : D^2 u(x) = f(x)$ in a bounded but not necessarily convex domain $Ω$ and study it in the max norm. The fine scale is given by the meshsize $h$ whereas the coarse scale $ε$ is dictated by an integro-differential approximation of the PDE. We show that the FEM satisfies the discrete maximum principle (DMP) for any uniformly positive definite matrix $A$ provided that the mesh is face weakly acute. We establish a discrete Alexandroff-Bakelman-Pucci (ABP) estimate which is suitable for finite element analysis. Its proof relies on a discrete Alexandroff estimate which expresses the min of a convex piecewise linear function in terms of the measure of its sub-differential, and thus of jumps of its gradient. The discrete ABP estimate leads, under suitable regularity assumptions on $A$ and $u$, to pointwise error estimates of the form \begin{equation*} \| u - u^ε_h \|_{L_\infty(Ω)} \leq \, C(A,u) \, h^{2α/(2 + α)} \big| \ln h \big| \qquad 0< α\leq 2, \end{equation*} provided $ε\approx h^{2/(2+α)}$. Such a convergence rate is at best of order $ h \big| \ln h \big|$, which turns out to be quasi-optimal.

Ricardo H. Nochetto, Shawn W. Walker, Wujun Zhang

We consider the simplest one-constant model, put forward by J. Ericksen, for nematic liquid crystals with variable degree of orientation. The equilibrium state is described by a director field $\mathbf{n}$ and its degree of orientation $s$, where the pair $(s, \mathbf{n})$ minimizes a sum of Frank-like energies and a double well potential. In particular, the Euler-Lagrange equations for the minimizer contain a degenerate elliptic equation for $\mathbf{n}$, which allows for line and plane defects to have finite energy. We present a structure preserving discretization of the liquid crystal energy with piecewise linear finite elements that can handle the degenerate elliptic part without regularization, and show that it is consistent and stable. We prove $Γ$-convergence of discrete global minimizers to continuous ones as the mesh size goes to zero. We develop a quasi-gradient flow scheme for computing discrete equilibrium solutions and prove it has a strictly monotone energy decreasing property. We present simulations in two and three dimensions to illustrate the method's ability to handle non-trivial defects. A music video summary of the paper is available on YouTube: "Mathematical Modeling and Simulation of Nematic Liquid Crystals (A Montage)," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWWw7\_6cQ-U

Ricardo H. Nochetto, Shawn W. Walker, Wujun Zhang

We present a robust discretization of the Ericksen model of liquid crystals with variable degree of orientation coupled with colloidal effects and electric fields. The total energy consists of the Ericksen energy, a weak anchoring (or penalized Dirichlet) energy to model colloids, and an electrical energy for a given electric field. We describe our special discretization of the total energy along with a method to compute minimizers via a discrete quasi-gradient flow algorithm which has a strictly monotone energy decreasing property. Numerical experiments are given in two and three dimensions to illustrate that the method is able to capture non-trivial defect patterns, such as the Saturn ring defect. We conclude with a rigorous proof of the Gamma-convergence of our discrete energy to the continuous energy.

Lehel Banjai, Jens M. Melenk, Ricardo H. Nochetto et al.

We design and analyze several Finite Element Methods (FEMs) applied to the Caffarelli-Silvestre extension that localizes the fractional powers of symmetric, coercive, linear elliptic operators in bounded domains with Dirichlet boundary conditions. We consider open, bounded, polytopal but not necessarily convex domains $Ω\subset \mathbb{R}^d$ with $d=1,2$. For the solution to the extension problem, we establish analytic regularity with respect to the extended variable $y\in (0,\infty)$. We prove that the solution belongs to countably normed, power-exponentially weighted Bochner spaces of analytic functions with respect to $y$, taking values in corner-weighted Kondat'ev type Sobolev spaces in $Ω$. In $Ω\subset \mathbb{R}^d$, we discretize with continuous, piecewise linear, Lagrangian FEM ($P_1$-FEM) with mesh refinement near corners, and prove that first order convergence rate is attained for compatible data $f\in \mathbb{H}^{1-s}(Ω)$. We also prove that tensorization of a $P_1$-FEM in $Ω$ with a suitable $hp$-FEM in the extended variable achieves log-linear complexity with respect to $\mathcal{N}_Ω$, the number of degrees of freedom in the domain $Ω$. In addition, we propose a novel, sparse tensor product FEM based on a multilevel $P_1$-FEM in $Ω$ and on a $P_1$-FEM on radical-geometric meshes in the extended variable. We prove that this approach also achieves log-linear complexity with respect to $\mathcal{N}_Ω$. Finally, under the stronger assumption that the data is analytic in $\overlineΩ$, and without compatibility at $\partial Ω$, we establish exponential rates of convergence of $hp$-FEM for spectral, fractional diffusion operators. We also report numerical experiments for model problems which confirm the theoretical results. We indicate several extensions and generalizations of the proposed methods.

Andrea Bonito, Juan Pablo Borthagaray, Ricardo H. Nochetto et al.

We present three schemes for the numerical approximation of fractional diffusion, which build on different definitions of such a non-local process. The first method is a PDE approach that applies to the spectral definition and exploits the extension to one higher dimension. The second method is the integral formulation and deals with singular non-integrable kernels. The third method is a discretization of the Dunford-Taylor formula. We discuss pros and cons of each method, error estimates, and document their performance with a few numerical experiments.

Andrea Bonito, J. Manuel Cascón, Pedro Morin et al.

We present a new AFEM for the Laplace-Beltrami operator with arbitrary polynomial degree on parametric surfaces, which are globally $W^1_\infty$ and piecewise in a suitable Besov class embedded in $C^{1,α}$ with $α\in (0,1]$. The idea is to have the surface sufficiently well resolved in $W^1_\infty$ relative to the current resolution of the PDE in $H^1$. This gives rise to a conditional contraction property of the PDE module. We present a suitable approximation class and discuss its relation to Besov regularity of the surface, solution, and forcing. We prove optimal convergence rates for AFEM which are dictated by the worst decay rate of the surface error in $W^1_\infty$ and PDE error in $H^1$.

Söeren Bartels, Andrea Bonito, Ricardo H. Nochetto

The bending of bilayer plates is a mechanism which allows for large deformations via small externally induced lattice mismatches of the underlying materials. Its mathematical modeling, discussed herein, consists of a nonlinear fourth order problem with a pointwise isometry constraint. A discretization based on Kirchhoff quadrilaterals is devised and its $Γ$-convergence is proved. An iterative method that decreases the energy is proposed and its convergence to stationary configurations is investigated. Its performance, as well as reduced model capabilities, are explored via several insightful numerical experiments involving large (geometrically nonlinear) deformations.

Ricardo H. Nochetto, Enrique Otarola, Abner J. Salgado

Fractional diffusion has become a fundamental tool for the modeling of multiscale and heterogeneous phenomena. However, due to its nonlocal nature, its accurate numerical approximation is delicate. We survey our research program on the design and analysis of efficient solution techniques for problems involving fractional powers of elliptic operators. Starting from a localization PDE result for these operators, we develop local techniques for their solution: a priori and a posteriori error analyses, adaptivity and multilevel methods. We show the flexibility of our approach by proposing and analyzing local solution techniques for a space-time fractional parabolic equation.

Ricardo H. Nochetto, Enrique Otarola, Abner J. Salgado

We develop a constructive piecewise polynomial approximation theory in weighted Sobolev spaces with Muckenhoupt weights for any polynomial degree. The main ingredients to derive optimal error estimates for an averaged Taylor polynomial are a suitable weighted Poincare inequality, a cancellation property and a simple induction argument. We also construct a quasi-interpolation operator, built on local averages over stars, which is well defined for functions in $L^1$. We derive optimal error estimates for any polynomial degree on simplicial shape regular meshes. On rectangular meshes, these estimates are valid under the condition that neighboring elements have comparable size, which yields optimal anisotropic error estimates over $n$-rectangular domains. The interpolation theory extends to cases when the error and function regularity require different weights. We conclude with three applications: nonuniform elliptic boundary value problems, elliptic problems with singular sources, and fractional powers of elliptic operators.

Long Chen, Ricardo H. Nochetto, Enrique Otárola et al.

We derive a computable a posteriori error estimator for the $α$-harmonic extension problem, which localizes the fractional powers of elliptic operators supplemented with Dirichlet boundary conditions. Our a posteriori error estimator relies on the solution of small discrete problems on anisotropic cylindrical stars. It exhibits built-in flux equilibration and is equivalent to the energy error up to data oscillation, under suitable assumptions. We design a simple adaptive algorithm and present numerical experiments which reveal a competitive performance.

Ricardo H. Nochetto, Enrique Otárola, Abner J. Salgado

We review the finite element approximation of the classical obstacle problem in energy and max-norms and derive error estimates for both the solution and the free boundary. On the basis of recent regularity results we present an optimal error analysis for the thin obstacle problem. Finally, we discuss the localization of the obstacle problem for the fractional Laplacian and prove quasi-optimal convergence rates.