Discontinuities in numerical radiative transfer

Observations and magnetohydrodynamic simulations of solar and stellar atmospheres reveal an intermittent behavior or steep gradients in physical parameters, such as magnetic field, temperature, and bulk velocities. The numerical solution of the stationary radiative transfer equation is particularly challenging in such situations, because standard numerical methods may perform very inefficiently in the absence of local smoothness. However, a rigorous investigation of the numerical treatment of the radiative transfer equation in discontinuous media is still lacking. The aim of this work is to expose the limitations of standard convergence analyses for this problem and to identify the relevant issues. Moreover, specific numerical tests are performed. These show that discontinuities in the atmospheric physical parameters effectively induce first-order discontinuities in the radiative transfer equation, reducing the accuracy of the solution and thwarting high-order convergence. In addition, a survey of the existing numerical schemes for discontinuous ordinary differential systems and interpolation techniques for discontinuous discrete data is given, evaluating their applicability to the radiative transfer problem

The linear algebra of interpolation with finite applications giving computational methods for multivariate polynomials

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1988Linear representation and the duality of the biorthonormality relationship express the linear algebra of interpolation by way of the evaluation mapping. In the finite case the standard bases relate the maps to Gramian matrices. Five equivalent conditions on these objects are found which characterize the solution of the interpolation problem. This algebra succinctly describes the solution space of ordinary linear initial value problems. Multivariate polynomial spaces and multidimensional node sets are described by multi-index sets. Geometric considerations of normalization and dimensionality lead to cardinal bases for Lagrange interpolation on regular node sets. More general Hermite functional sets can also be solved by generalized Newton methods using geometry and multi-indices. Extended to countably infinite spaces, the method calls upon theorems of modern analysis

On C2 cubic quasi-interpolating splines and their computation by subdivision via blossoming

We discuss the construction of C2 cubic spline quasi-interpolation schemes defined on a refined partition. These schemes are reduced in terms of degrees of freedom compared to those existing in the literature. Namely, we provide a rule for reducing them by imposing super-smoothing conditions while preserving full smoothness and cubic precision. In addition, we provide subdivision rules by means of blossoming. The derived rules are designed to express the B-spline coefficients associated with a finer partition from those associated with the former one."Maria de Maeztu" Excellence Unit IMAG (University of Granada, Spain) CEX2020-001105-MICIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033University of Granada University of Granada/CBU

Monotonicity preserving approximation of multivariate scattered data

This paper describes a new method of monotone interpolation and smoothing of multivariate scattered data. It is based on the assumption that the function to be approximated is Lipschitz continuous. The method provides the optimal approximation in the worst case scenario and tight error bounds. Smoothing of noisy data subject to monotonicity constraints is converted into a quadratic programming problem. Estimation of the unknown Lipschitz constant from the data by sample splitting and cross-validation is described. Extension of the method for locally Lipschitz functions is presented.<br /

Analysis and new constructions of generalized barycentric coordinates in 2D

Different coordinate systems allow to uniquely determine the position of a geometric element in space. In this dissertation, we consider a coordinate system that lets us determine the position of a two-dimensional point in the plane with respect to an arbitrary simple polygon. Coordinates of this system are called generalized barycentric coordinates in 2D and are widely used in computer graphics and computational mechanics. There exist many coordinate functions that satisfy all the basic properties of barycentric coordinates, but they differ by a number of other properties. We start by providing an extensive comparison of all existing coordinate functions and pointing out which important properties of generalized barycentric coordinates are not satisfied by these functions. This comparison shows that not all of existing coordinates have fully investigated properties, and we complete such a theoretical analysis for a particular one-parameter family of generalized barycentric coordinates for strictly convex polygons. We also perform numerical analysis of this family and show how to avoid computational instabilities near the polygon’s boundary when computing these coordinates in practice. We conclude this analysis by implementing some members of this family in the Computational Geometry Algorithm Library. In the second half of this dissertation, we present a few novel constructions of non-negative and smooth generalized barycentric coordinates defined over any simple polygon. In this context, we show that new coordinates with improved properties can be obtained by taking convex combinations of already existing coordinate functions and we give two examples of how to use such convex combinations for polygons without and with interior points. These new constructions have many attractive properties and perform better than other coordinates in interpolation and image deformation applications

Interpolation by spline spaces on classes of triangulations

We describe a general method for constructing triangulations &#916; which are suitable for interpolation by Srq(&#916;),

B-spline-like bases for C2C^2 cubics on the Powell-Sabin 12-split

For spaces of constant, linear, and quadratic splines of maximal smoothness on the Powell-Sabin 12-split of a triangle, the so-called S-bases were recently introduced. These are simplex spline bases with B-spline-like properties on the 12-split of a single triangle, which are tied together across triangles in a B\'ezier-like manner. In this paper we give a formal definition of an S-basis in terms of certain basic properties. We proceed to investigate the existence of S-bases for the aforementioned spaces and additionally the cubic case, resulting in an exhaustive list. From their nature as simplex splines, we derive simple differentiation and recurrence formulas to other S-bases. We establish a Marsden identity that gives rise to various quasi-interpolants and domain points forming an intuitive control net, in terms of which conditions for $C^0$-, $C^1$-, and $C^2$-smoothness are derived