Barbara Verfürth

Mario Ohlberger, Barbara Verfürth

In this paper, we suggest a new Heterogeneous Multiscale Method (HMM) for the Helmholtz equation with high contrast. The method is constructed for a setting as in Bouchitté and Felbacq (C.R. Math. Acad. Sci. Paris 339(5):377--382, 2004), where the high contrast in the parameter leads to unusual effective parameters in the homogenized equation. We revisit existing homogenization approaches for this special setting and analyze the stability of the two-scale solution with respect to the wavenumber and the data. This includes a new stability result for solutions to the Helmholtz equation with discontinuous diffusion matrix. The HMM is defined as direct discretization of the two-scale limit equation. With this approach we are able to show quasi-optimality and an a priori error estimate under a resolution condition that inherits its dependence on the wavenumber from the stability constant for the analytical problem. Numerical experiments confirm our theoretical convergence results and examine the resolution condition. Moreover, the numerical simulation gives a good insight and explanation of the physical phenomenon of frequency band gaps.

Mario Ohlberger, Barbara Verfürth

In this paper, we present a Localized Orthogonal Decomposition (LOD) in Petrov-Galerkin formulation for a two-scale Helmholtz-type problem. The two-scale problem is, for instance, motivated from the homogenization of the Helmholtz equation with high contrast, studied together with a corresponding multiscale method in (Ohlberger, Verfürth. A new Heterogeneous Multiscale Method for the Helmholtz equation with high contrast, arXiv:1605.03400, 2016). There, an unavoidable resolution condition on the mesh sizes in terms of the wave number has been observed, which is known as "pollution effect" in the finite element literature. Following ideas of (Gallistl, Peterseim. Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 295:1-17, 2015), we use standard finite element functions for the trial space, whereas the test functions are enriched by solutions of subscale problems (solved on a finer grid) on local patches. Provided that the oversampling parameter $m$, which indicates the size of the patches, is coupled logarithmically to the wave number, we obtain a quasi-optimal method under a reasonable resolution of a few degrees of freedom per wave length, thus overcoming the pollution effect. In the two-scale setting, the main challenges for the LOD lie in the coupling of the function spaces and in the periodic boundary conditions.

Daniel Peterseim, Dora Varga, Barbara Verfürth

This paper rediscovers a classical homogenization result for a prototypical linear elliptic boundary value problem with periodically oscillating diffusion coefficient. Unlike classical analytical approaches such as asymptotic analysis, oscillating test functions, or two-scale convergence, the result is purely based on the theory of domain decomposition methods and standard finite elements techniques. The arguments naturally generalize to problems far beyond periodicity and scale separation and we provide a brief overview on such applications.

Barbara Verfürth

In this paper, we suggest a new Heterogeneous Multiscale Method (HMM) for the (time-harmonic) Maxwell scattering problem with high contrast. The method is constructed for a setting as in Bouchitté, Bourel and Felbacq (C.R. Math. Acad. Sci. Paris 347(9-10):571--576, 2009), where the high contrast in the parameter leads to unusual effective parameters in the homogenized equation. We present a new homogenization result for this special setting, compare it to existing homogenization approaches and analyze the stability of the two-scale solution with respect to the wavenumber and the data. This includes a new stability result for solutions to time-harmonic Maxwell's equations with matrix-valued, spatially dependent coefficients. The HMM is defined as direct discretization of the two-scale limit equation. With this approach we are able to show quasi-optimality and a priori error estimates in energy and dual norms under a resolution condition that inherits its dependence on the wavenumber from the stability constant for the analytical problem. This is the first wavenumber-explicit resolution condition for time-harmonic Maxwell's equations. Numerical experiments confirm our theoretical convergence results.

Barbara Verfürth

In this paper, we present a numerical homogenization scheme for indefinite, time-harmonic Maxwell's equations involving potentially rough (rapidly oscillating) coefficients. The method involves an $\mathbf{H}(\mathrm{curl})$-stable, quasi-local operator, which allows for a correction of coarse finite element functions such that order optimal (w.r.t. the mesh size) error estimates are obtained. To that end, we extend the procedure of [D. Gallistl, P. Henning, B. Verfürth, Numerical homogenization of H(curl)-problems, arXiv:1706.02966, 2017] to the case of indefinite problems. In particular, this requires a careful analysis of the well-posedness of the corrector problems as well as the numerical homogenization scheme.

Mario Ohlberger, Ben Schweizer, Maik Urban et al.

We study time-harmonic Maxwell's equations in meta-materials that use either perfect conductors or high-contrast materials. Based on known effective equations for perfectly conducting inclusions, we calculate the transmission and reflection coefficients for four different geometries. For high-contrast materials and essentially two-dimensional geometries, we analyze parallel electric and parallel magnetic fields and discuss their potential to exhibit transmission through a sample of meta-material. For a numerical study, one often needs a method that is adapted to heterogeneous media; we consider here a Heterogeneous Multiscale Method for high contrast materials. The qualitative transmission properties, as predicted by the analysis, are confirmed with numerical experiments. The numerical results also underline the applicability of the multiscale method.

Dietmar Gallistl, Patrick Henning, Barbara Verfürth

If an elliptic differential operator associated with an $\mathbf{H}(\mathrm{curl})$-problem involves rough (rapidly varying) coefficients, then solutions to the corresponding $\mathbf{H}(\mathrm{curl})$-problem admit typically very low regularity, which leads to arbitrarily bad convergence rates for conventional numerical schemes. The goal of this paper is to show that the missing regularity can be compensated through a corrector operator. More precisely, we consider the lowest order Nédélec finite element space and show the existence of a linear corrector operator with four central properties: it is computable, $\mathbf{H}(\mathrm{curl})$-stable, quasi-local and allows for a correction of coarse finite element functions so that first-order estimates (in terms of the coarse mesh-size) in the $\mathbf{H}(\mathrm{curl})$ norm are obtained provided the right-hand side belongs to $\mathbf{H}(\mathrm{div})$. With these four properties, a practical application is to construct generalized finite element spaces which can be straightforwardly used in a Galerkin method. In particular, this characterizes a homogenized solution and a first order corrector, including corresponding quantitative error estimates without the requirement of scale separation.

Patrick Henning, Mario Ohlberger, Barbara Verfürth

In this paper, we suggest a new heterogeneous multiscale method (HMM) for the time-harmonic Maxwell equations in locally periodic media. The method is constructed by using a divergence-regularization in one of the cell problems. This allows us to introduce fine-scale correctors that are not subject to a cumbersome divergence-free constraint and which can hence easily be implemented. To analyze the method, we first revisit classical homogenization theory for time-harmonic Maxwell equations and derive a new homogenization result that makes use of the divergence-regularization in the two-scale homogenized equation. We then show that the HMM is equivalent to a discretization of this equation. In particular, writing both problems in a fully coupled two-scale formulation is the crucial starting point for a corresponding numerical analysis of the method. With this approach we are able to prove rigorous a priori error estimates in the $\mathbf{H}(\mbox{curl})$- and the $H^{-1}$-norm and we derive reliable and efficient localized residual-based a posteriori error estimates.