Compressive Space-Time Galerkin Discretizations of Parabolic Partial Differential Equations

We study linear parabolic initial-value problems in a space-time variational formulation based on fractional calculus. This formulation uses "time derivatives of order one half" on the bi-infinite time axis. We show that for linear, parabolic initial-boundary value problems on $(0,\infty)$, the corresponding bilinear form admits an inf-sup condition with sparse tensor product trial and test function spaces. We deduce optimality of compressive, space-time Galerkin discretizations, where stability of Galerkin approximations is implied by the well-posedness of the parabolic operator equation. The variational setting adopted here admits more general Riesz bases than previous work; in particular, no stability in negative order Sobolev spaces on the spatial or temporal domains is required of the Riesz bases accommodated by the present formulation. The trial and test spaces are based on Sobolev spaces of equal order $1/2$ with respect to the temporal variable. Sparse tensor products of multi-level decompositions of the spatial and temporal spaces in Galerkin discretizations lead to large, non-symmetric linear systems of equations. We prove that their condition numbers are uniformly bounded with respect to the discretization level. In terms of the total number of degrees of freedom, the convergence orders equal, up to logarithmic terms, those of best $N$-term approximations of solutions of the corresponding elliptic problems.Comment: 26 page

Exact resolution method for general 1D polynomial Schr\"odinger equation

The stationary 1D Schr\"odinger equation with a polynomial potential $V(q)$ of degree N is reduced to a system of exact quantization conditions of Bohr-Sommerfeld form. They arise from bilinear (Wronskian) functional relations pairing spectral determinants of (N+2) generically distinct operators, all the transforms of one quantum Hamiltonian under a cyclic group of complex scalings. The determinants' zeros define (N+2) semi-infinite chains of points in the complex spectral plane, and they encode the original quantum problem. Each chain can now be described by an exact quantization condition which constrains it in terms of its neighbors, resulting in closed equilibrium conditions for the global chain system; these are supplemented by the standard (Bohr-Sommerfeld) quantization conditions, which bind the infinite tail of each chain asymptotically. This reduced problem is then probed numerically for effective solvability upon test cases (mostly, symmetric quartic oscillators): we find that the iterative enforcement of all the quantization conditions generates discrete chain dynamics which appear to converge geometrically towards the correct eigenvalues/eigenfunctions. We conjecture that the exact quantization then acts by specifying reduced chain dynamics which can be stable (contractive) and thus determine the exact quantum data as their fixed point. (To date, this statement is verified only empirically and in a vicinity of purely quartic or sextic potentials $V(q)$.)Comment: flatex text.tex, 4 files Submitted to: J. Phys. A: Math. Ge

On the computation of geometric features of spectra of linear operators on Hilbert spaces

Computing spectra is a central problem in computational mathematics with an abundance of applications throughout the sciences. However, in many applications gaining an approximation of the spectrum is not enough. Often it is vital to determine geometric features of spectra such as Lebesgue measure, capacity or fractal dimensions, different types of spectral radii and numerical ranges, or to detect essential spectral gaps and the corresponding failure of the finite section method. Despite new results on computing spectra and the substantial interest in these geometric problems, there remain no general methods able to compute such geometric features of spectra of infinite-dimensional operators. We provide the first algorithms for the computation of many of these longstanding problems (including the above). As demonstrated with computational examples, the new algorithms yield a library of new methods. Recent progress in computational spectral problems in infinite dimensions has led to the Solvability Complexity Index (SCI) hierarchy, which classifies the difficulty of computational problems. These results reveal that infinite-dimensional spectral problems yield an intricate infinite classification theory determining which spectral problems can be solved and with which type of algorithm. This is very much related to S. Smale's comprehensive program on the foundations of computational mathematics initiated in the 1980s. We classify the computation of geometric features of spectra in the SCI hierarchy, allowing us to precisely determine the boundaries of what computers can achieve and prove that our algorithms are optimal. We also provide a new universal technique for establishing lower bounds in the SCI hierarchy, which both greatly simplifies previous SCI arguments and allows new, formerly unattainable, classifications

Global Hopf bifurcation in the ZIP regulatory system

Regulation of zinc uptake in roots of Arabidopsis thaliana has recently been modeled by a system of ordinary differential equations based on the uptake of zinc, expression of a transporter protein and the interaction between an activator and inhibitor. For certain parameter choices the steady state of this model becomes unstable upon variation in the external zinc concentration. Numerical results show periodic orbits emerging between two critical values of the external zinc concentration. Here we show the existence of a global Hopf bifurcation with a continuous family of stable periodic orbits between two Hopf bifurcation points. The stability of the orbits in a neighborhood of the bifurcation points is analyzed by deriving the normal form, while the stability of the orbits in the global continuation is shown by calculation of the Floquet multipliers. From a biological point of view, stable periodic orbits lead to potentially toxic zinc peaks in plant cells. Buffering is believed to be an efficient way to deal with strong transient variations in zinc supply. We extend the model by a buffer reaction and analyze the stability of the steady state in dependence of the properties of this reaction. We find that a large enough equilibrium constant of the buffering reaction stabilizes the steady state and prevents the development of oscillations. Hence, our results suggest that buffering has a key role in the dynamics of zinc homeostasis in plant cells.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures, uses svjour3.cl