Numerical methods for time-fractional evolution equations with nonsmooth data: a concise overview

Over the past few decades, there has been substantial interest in evolution equations that involving a fractional-order derivative of order $\alpha\in(0,1)$ in time, due to their many successful applications in engineering, physics, biology and finance. Thus, it is of paramount importance to develop and to analyze efficient and accurate numerical methods for reliably simulating such models, and the literature on the topic is vast and fast growing. The present paper gives a concise overview on numerical schemes for the subdiffusion model with nonsmooth problem data, which are important for the numerical analysis of many problems arising in optimal control, inverse problems and stochastic analysis. We focus on the following aspects of the subdiffusion model: regularity theory, Galerkin finite element discretization in space, time-stepping schemes (including convolution quadrature and L1 type schemes), and space-time variational formulations, and compare the results with that for standard parabolic problems. Further, these aspects are showcased with illustrative numerical experiments and complemented with perspectives and pointers to relevant literature.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figure

Rational spectral methods for PDEs involving fractional Laplacian in unbounded domains

Many PDEs involving fractional Laplacian are naturally set in unbounded domains with underlying solutions decay very slowly, subject to certain power laws. Their numerical solutions are under-explored. This paper aims at developing accurate spectral methods using rational basis (or modified mapped Gegenbauer functions) for such models in unbounded domains. The main building block of the spectral algorithms is the explicit representations for the Fourier transform and fractional Laplacian of the rational basis, derived from some useful integral identites related to modified Bessel functions. With these at our disposal, we can construct rational spectral-Galerkin and direct collocation schemes by pre-computing the associated fractional differentiation matrices. We obtain optimal error estimates of rational spectral approximation in the fractional Sobolev spaces, and analyze the optimal convergence of the proposed Galerkin scheme. We also provide ample numerical results to show that the rational method outperforms the Hermite function approach

New High-Order Compact ADI Algorithms for 3D Nonlinear Time-Fractional Convection-Diffusion Equation

Numerical approximations of the three-dimensional (3D) nonlinear time-fractional convection-diffusion equation is studied, which is firstly transformed to a time-fractional diffusion equation and then is solved by linearization method combined with alternating direction implicit (ADI) method. By using fourth-order Padé approximation for spatial derivatives and classical backward differentiation method for time derivative, two new high-order compact ADI algorithms with orders O(τmin(1+α,2−α)+h4) and O(τ2−α+h4) are presented. The resulting schemes in each ADI solution step corresponding to a tridiagonal matrix equation can be solved by the Thomas algorithm which makes the computation cost effective. Numerical experiments are shown to demonstrate the high accuracy and robustness of two new schemes

High-order Compact Difference Schemes for the Modified Anomalous Subdiffusion Equation

In this paper, two kinds of high-order compact finite difference schemes for second-order derivative are developed. Then a second-order numerical scheme for Riemann-Liouvile derivative is established based on fractional center difference operator. We apply these methods to fractional anomalous subdiffusion equation to construct two kinds of novel numerical schemes. The solvability, stability and convergence analysis of these difference schemes are studied by Fourier method in details. The convergence orders of these numerical schemes are $\mathcal {O}(\tau^2+h^6)$ and $\mathcal {O}(\tau^2+h^8)$, respectively. Finally, numerical experiments are displayed which are in line with the theoretical analysis.Comment: