Computational aspects of pseudospectral Laguerre approximations

Pseudospectral approximations in unbounded domains by Laguerre polynomials lead to ill-conditioned algorithms. Introduced are a scaling function and appropriate numerical procedures in order to limit these unpleasant phenomena

Trapping Electromagnetic Solitons in Cylinders

Electromagnetic waves, in vacuum or dielectrics, can be confined in unbounded cylinders in such a way that they turn around the main axis. For particular choices of the cylinder's section, interesting stationary configurations may be assumed. By refining some results obtained in previous papers, additional more complex situations are examined here. For such peculiar guided waves an explicit expression is given in terms of Bessel's functions. Possible applications are in the development of whispering gallery resonators.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Numerical Simulation of Electromagnetic Solitons and their Interaction with Matter

A suitable correction of the Maxwell model brings to an enlargement of the space of solutions, allowing for the existence of solitons in vacuum. We review the basic achievements of the theory and discuss some approximation results based on an explicit finite-difference technique. The experiments in two dimensions simulate travelling solitary electromagnetic waves, and show their interaction with conductive walls. In particular, the classical dispersion, exhibited by the passage of a photon through a small aperture, is examined.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figure

Optimal Collocation Nodes for Fractional Derivative Operators

Spectral discretizations of fractional derivative operators are examined, where the approximation basis is related to the set of Jacobi polynomials. The pseudo-spectral method is implemented by assuming that the grid, used to represent the function to be differentiated, may not be coincident with the collocation grid. The new option opens the way to the analysis of alternative techniques and the search of optimal distributions of collocation nodes, based on the operator to be approximated. Once the initial representation grid has been chosen, indications on how to recover the collocation grid are provided, with the aim of enlarging the dimension of the approximation space. As a results of this process, performances are improved. Applications to fractional type advection-diffusion equations, and comparisons in terms of accuracy and efficiency are made. As shown in the analysis, special choices of the nodes can also suggest tricks to speed up computations