To be or not to be intrusive? The solution of parametric and stochastic equations - the "plain vanilla" Galerkin case

In parametric equations - stochastic equations are a special case - one may want to approximate the solution such that it is easy to evaluate its dependence of the parameters. Interpolation in the parameters is an obvious possibility, in this context often labeled as a collocation method. In the frequent situation where one has a "solver" for the equation for a given parameter value - this may be a software component or a program - it is evident that this can independently solve for the parameter values to be interpolated. Such uncoupled methods which allow the use of the original solver are classed as "non-intrusive". By extension, all other methods which produce some kind of coupled system are often - in our view prematurely - classed as "intrusive". We show for simple Galerkin formulations of the parametric problem - which generally produce coupled systems - how one may compute the approximation in a non-intusive way

A unified approach for the solution of the Fokker-Planck equation

This paper explores the use of a discrete singular convolution algorithm as a unified approach for numerical integration of the Fokker-Planck equation. The unified features of the discrete singular convolution algorithm are discussed. It is demonstrated that different implementations of the present algorithm, such as global, local, Galerkin, collocation, and finite difference, can be deduced from a single starting point. Three benchmark stochastic systems, the repulsive Wong process, the Black-Scholes equation and a genuine nonlinear model, are employed to illustrate the robustness and to test accuracy of the present approach for the solution of the Fokker-Planck equation via a time-dependent method. An additional example, the incompressible Euler equation, is used to further validate the present approach for more difficult problems. Numerical results indicate that the present unified approach is robust and accurate for solving the Fokker-Planck equation.Comment: 19 page