Topological Optimization of the Evaluation of Finite Element Matrices

We present a topological framework for finding low-flop algorithms for evaluating element stiffness matrices associated with multilinear forms for finite element methods posed over straight-sided affine domains. This framework relies on phrasing the computation on each element as the contraction of each collection of reference element tensors with an element-specific geometric tensor. We then present a new concept of complexity-reducing relations that serve as distance relations between these reference element tensors. This notion sets up a graph-theoretic context in which we may find an optimized algorithm by computing a minimum spanning tree. We present experimental results for some common multilinear forms showing significant reductions in operation count and also discuss some efficient algorithms for building the graph we use for the optimization

The "exterior approach" applied to the inverse obstacle problem for the heat equation

International audienceIn this paper we consider the " exterior approach " to solve the inverse obstacle problem for the heat equation. This iterated approach is based on a quasi-reversibility method to compute the solution from the Cauchy data while a simple level set method is used to characterize the obstacle. We present several mixed formulations of quasi-reversibility that enable us to use some classical conforming finite elements. Among these, an iterated formulation that takes the noisy Cauchy data into account in a weak way is selected to serve in some numerical experiments and show the feasibility of our strategy of identification. 1. Introduction. This paper deals with the inverse obstacle problem for the heat equation, which can be described as follows. We consider a bounded domain D ⊂ R d , d ≥ 2, which contains an inclusion O. The temperature in the complementary domain Ω = D \ O satisfies the heat equation while the inclusion is characterized by a zero temperature. The inverse problem consists, from the knowledge of the lateral Cauchy data (that is both the temperature and the heat flux) on a subpart of the boundary ∂D during a certain interval of time (0, T) such that the temperature at time t = 0 is 0 in Ω, to identify the inclusion O. Such kind of inverse problem arises in thermal imaging, as briefly described in the introduction of [9]. The first attempts to solve such kind of problem numerically go back to the late 80's, as illustrated by [1], in which a least square method based on a shape derivative technique is used and numerical applications in 2D are presented. A shape derivative technique is also used in [11] in a 2D case as well, but the least square method is replaced by a Newton type method. Lastly, the shape derivative together with the least square method have recently been used in 3D cases [18]. The main feature of all these contributions is that they rely on the computation of forward problems in the domain Ω × (0, T): this computation obliges the authors to know one of the two lateral Cauchy data (either the temperature or the heat flux) on the whole boundary ∂D of D. In [20], the authors introduce the so-called " enclosure method " , which enables them to recover an approximation of the convex hull of the inclusion without computing any forward problem. Note however that the lateral Cauchy data has to be known on the whole boundary ∂D. The present paper concerns the " exterior approach " , which is an alternative method to solve the inverse obstacle problem. Like in [20], it does not need to compute the solution of the forward problem and in addition, it is applicable even if the lateral Cauchy data are known only on a subpart of ∂D, while no data are given on the complementary part. The " exterior approach " consists in defining a sequence of domains that converges in a certain sense to the inclusion we are looking for. More precisely, the nth step consists, 1. for a given inclusion O n , in approximating the temperature in Ω n × (0, T) (Ω n := D \ O n) with the help of a quasi-reversibility method, 2. for a given temperature in Ω n × (0, T), in computing an updated inclusion O n+1 with the help of a level set method. Such " exterior approach " has already been successfully used to solve inverse obstacle problems for the Laplace equation [5, 4, 15] and for the Stokes system [6]. It has also been used for the heat equation in the 1D case [2]: the problem in this simple case might be considered as a toy problem since the inclusion reduces to a point in some bounded interval. The objective of the present paper is to extend the " exterior approach " for the heat equation to any dimension of space, with numerical applications in the 2D case. Let us shed some light on the two steps o

Asymptotically stable particle-in-cell methods for the Vlasov-Poisson system with a strong external magnetic field

International audienceThis paper deals with the numerical resolution of the Vlasov-Poissonsystem with a strong external magnetic field by Particle-In-Cell(PIC) methods. In this regime, classical PIC methods are subject tostability constraints on the time and space steps related to the smallLarmor radius and plasma frequency. Here, we propose anasymptotic-preserving PIC scheme which is not subjected to theselimitations. Our approach is based on first and higher order semi-implicit numericalschemes already validated on dissipative systems. Additionally, when the magnitude of the external magneticfield becomes large, this method provides a consistent PICdiscretization of the guiding-center equation, that is, incompressibleEuler equation in vorticity form. We propose several numerical experiments which provide a solid validation of the method and its underlying concepts

The Ulysses fast latitude scans: COSPIN/KET results

International audienceUlysses, launched in October 1990, began its second out-of-ecliptic orbit in December 1997, and its second fast latitude scan in September 2000. In contrast to the first fast latitude scan in 1994/1995, during the second fast latitude scan solar activity was close to maximum. The solar magnetic field reversed its polarity around July 2000. While the first latitude scan mainly gave a snapshot of the spatial distribution of galactic cosmic rays, the second one is dominated by temporal variations. Solar particle increases are observed at all heliographic latitudes, including events that produce >250 MeV protons and 50 MeV electrons. Using observations from the University of Chicago's instrument on board IMP8 at Earth, we find that most solar particle events are observed at both high and low latitudes, indicating either acceleration of these particles over a broad latitude range or an efficient latitudinal transport. The latter is supported by "quiet time" variations in the MeV electron background, if interpreted as Jovian electrons. No latitudinal gradient was found for >106 MeV galactic cosmic ray protons, during the solar maximum fast latitude scan. The electron to proton ratio remains constant and has practically the same value as in the previous solar maximum. Both results indicate that drift is of minor importance. It was expected that, with the reversal of the solar magnetic field and in the declining phase of the solar cycle, this ratio should increase. This was, however, not observed, probably because the transition to the new magnetic cycle was not completely terminated within the heliosphere, as indicated by the Ulysses magnetic field and solar wind measurements. We argue that the new A<0-solar magnetic modulation epoch will establish itself once both polar coronal holes have developed

A simplicial gauge theory

We provide an action for gauge theories discretized on simplicial meshes, inspired by finite element methods. The action is discretely gauge invariant and we give a proof of consistency. A discrete Noether's theorem that can be applied to our setting, is also proved.Comment: 24 pages. v2: New version includes a longer introduction and a discrete Noether's theorem. v3: Section 4 on Noether's theorem has been expanded with Proposition 8, section 2 has been expanded with a paragraph on standard LGT. v4: Thorough revision with new introduction and more background materia

Spaces of finite element differential forms

We discuss the construction of finite element spaces of differential forms which satisfy the crucial assumptions of the finite element exterior calculus, namely that they can be assembled into subcomplexes of the de Rham complex which admit commuting projections. We present two families of spaces in the case of simplicial meshes, and two other families in the case of cubical meshes. We make use of the exterior calculus and the Koszul complex to define and understand the spaces. These tools allow us to treat a wide variety of situations, which are often treated separately, in a unified fashion.Comment: To appear in: Analysis and Numerics of Partial Differential Equations, U. Gianazza, F. Brezzi, P. Colli Franzone, and G. Gilardi, eds., Springer 2013. v2: a few minor typos corrected. v3: a few more typo correction

Application of Discrete Differential Forms to Spherically Symmetric Systems in General Relativity

In this article we describe applications of Discrete Differential Forms in computational GR. In particular we consider the initial value problem in vacuum space-times that are spherically symmetric. The motivation to investigate this method is mainly its manifest coordinate independence. Three numerical schemes are introduced, the results of which are compared with the corresponding analytic solutions. The error of two schemes converges quadratically to zero. For one scheme the errors depend strongly on the initial data.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Class. Quant. Gra

Hybridization and Postprocessing Techniques for Mixed Eigenfunctions

We introduce hybridization and postprocessing techniques for the Raviart–Thomas approximation of second-order elliptic eigenvalue problems. Hybridization reduces the Raviart–Thomas approximation to a condensed eigenproblem. The condensed eigenproblem is nonlinear, but smaller than the original mixed approximation. We derive multiple iterative algorithms for solving the condensed eigenproblem and examine their interrelationships and convergence rates. An element-by-element postprocessing technique to improve accuracy of computed eigenfunctions is also presented. We prove that a projection of the error in the eigenspace approximation by the mixed method (of any order) superconverges and that the postprocessed eigenfunction approximations converge faster for smooth eigenfunctions. Numerical experiments using a square and an L-shaped domain illustrate the theoretical results

Reconstructing initial data using observers: error analysis of the semi-discrete and fully discrete approximations

A new iterative algorithm for solving initial data inverse problems from partial observations has been recently proposed in Ramdani et al. (Automatica 46(10), 1616-1625, 2010 ). Based on the concept of observers (also called Luenberger observers), this algorithm covers a large class of abstract evolution PDE's. In this paper, we are concerned with the convergence analysis of this algorithm. More precisely, we provide a complete numerical analysis for semi-discrete (in space) and fully discrete approximations derived using finite elements in space and an implicit Euler method in time. The analysis is carried out for abstract Schrödinger and wave conservative systems with bounded observation (locally distributed)