Numerical Solution of Linear Ordinary Differential Equations and Differential-Algebraic Equations by Spectral Methods

This thesis involves the implementation of spectral methods, for numerical solution of linear Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs) and linear Differential-Algebraic Equations (DAEs). First we consider ODEs with some ordinary problems, and then, focus on those problems in which the solution function or some coefficient functions have singularities. Then, by expressing weak and strong aspects of spectral methods to solve these kinds of problems, a modified pseudo-spectral method which is more efficient than other spectral methods is suggested and tested on some examples. We extend the pseudo-spectral method to solve a system of linear ODEs and linear DAEs and compare this method with other methods such as Backward Difference Formulae (BDF), and implicit Runge-Kutta (RK) methods using some numerical examples. Furthermore, by using appropriate choice of Gauss-Chebyshev-Radau points, we will show that this method can be used to solve a linear DAE whenever some of coefficient functions have singularities by providing some examples. We also used some problems that have already been considered by some authors by finite difference methods, and compare their results with ours. Finally, we present a short survey of properties and numerical methods for solving DAE problems and then we extend the pseudo-spectral method to solve DAE problems with variable coefficient functions. Our numerical experience shows that spectral and pseudo-spectral methods and their modified versions are very promising for linear ODE and linear DAE problems with solution or coefficient functions having singularities. In section 3.2, a modified method for solving an ODE is introduced which is new work. Furthermore, an extension of this method for solving a DAE or system of ODEs which has been explained in section 4.6 of chapter four is also a new idea and has not been done by anyone previously. In all chapters, wherever we talk about ODE or DAE we mean linear

Computation of a combined spherical-elastic and viscous-half-space earth model for ice sheet simulation

This report starts by describing the continuum model used by Lingle & Clark (1985) to approximate the deformation of the earth under changing ice sheet and ocean loads. That source considers a single ice stream, but we apply their underlying model to continent-scale ice sheet simulation. Their model combines Farrell's (1972) elastic spherical earth with a viscous half-space overlain by an elastic plate lithosphere. The latter half-space model is derivable from calculations by Cathles (1975). For the elastic spherical earth we use Farrell's tabulated Green's function, as do Lingle & Clark. For the half-space model, however, we propose and implement a significantly faster numerical strategy, a spectral collocation method (Trefethen 2000) based directly on the Fast Fourier Transform. To verify this method we compare to an integral formula for a disc load. To compare earth models we build an accumulation history from a growing similarity solution from (Bueler, et al.~2005) and and simulate the coupled (ice flow)-(earth deformation) system. In the case of simple isostasy the exact solution to this system is known. We demonstrate that the magnitudes of numerical errors made in approximating the ice-earth system are significantly smaller than pairwise differences between several earth models, namely, simple isostasy, the current standard model used in ice sheet simulation (Greve 2001, Hagdorn 2003, Zweck & Huybrechts 2005), and the Lingle & Clark model. Therefore further efforts to validate different earth models used in ice sheet simulations are, not surprisingly, worthwhile.Comment: 36 pages, 16 figures, 3 Matlab program

Isomonodromic deformation of resonant rational connections

We analyze isomonodromic deformations of rational connections on the Riemann sphere with Fuchsian and irregular singularities. The Fuchsian singularities are allowed to be of arbitrary resonant index; the irregular singularities are also allowed to be resonant in the sense that the leading coefficient matrix at each singularity may have arbitrary Jordan canonical form, with a genericity condition on the Lidskii submatrix of the subleading term. We also give the relevant notion of isomonodromic tau function extending the one of non-resonant deformations introduced by Miwa-Jimbo-Ueno. The tau function is expressed purely in terms of spectral invariants of the matrix of the connection.Comment: 48 page

Numerical solution of gravitational dynamics in asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetimes

A variety of gravitational dynamics problems in asymptotically anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetime are amenable to efficient numerical solution using a common approach involving a null slicing of spacetime based on infalling geodesics, convenient exploitation of the residual diffeomorphism freedom, and use of spectral methods for discretizing and solving the resulting differential equations. Relevant issues and choices leading to this approach are discussed in detail. Three examples, motivated by applications to non-equilibrium dynamics in strongly coupled gauge theories, are discussed as instructive test cases. These are gravitational descriptions of homogeneous isotropization, collisions of planar shocks, and turbulent fluid flows in two spatial dimensions.Comment: 70 pages, 19 figures; v4: fixed minus sign typo in last term of eqn. (3.47

Bethe Ansatz and the Spectral Theory of affine Lie algebra-valued connections I. The simply-laced case

We study the ODE/IM correspondence for ODE associated to $\hat{\mathfrak g}$-valued connections, for a simply-laced Lie algebra $\mathfrak g$. We prove that subdominant solutions to the ODE defined in different fundamental representations satisfy a set of quadratic equations called $\Psi$-system. This allows us to show that the generalized spectral determinants satisfy the Bethe Ansatz equations.Comment: 27 pages, final and published version. Minor change in the titl