Stable finite difference schemes for the magnetic induction equation with Hall effect (Q695062)

The authors consider initial-boundary value problems of the magnetic induction equations with Hall effect, which are partial differential equations for the unknown magnetic field including third-order spatial and spatial-temporal derivatives. This problem represents a submodel of the magneto-hydrodynamic equations, where the velocity field has to be specified a priori. A symmetric formulation of the magnetic induction equations is derived. The authors show an energy estimate and an estimate on the divergence for the magnetic field function solving the symmetric formulation. Finite difference methods on three-dimensional uniform grids yield a semi-discretisation of the initial-boundary value problems in the spatial domain. The considered schemes include discrete differential operators satisfying a summation-by-parts property and averaging operators. The main part of the article consists in the proof that the resulting discrete systems inherit the properties of the symmetric differential equations. Firstly, the discrete solution of the magnetic field exhibits an energy estimate, i.e., the numerical methods satisfy an energy stability. Secondly, a bound on the discrete divergence is shown. Furthermore, the authors apply their finite difference methods to the original non-symmetric differential equations, since these equations preserve the divergence. Likewise, the numerical methods preserve the discrete divergence and an energy stability is shown in case of vanishing divergence. The numerical techniques as well as the proofs use results and concepts from previous works of involving one of the authors (see, e.g., [the second author and \textit{M. Svärd}, BIT 50, No. 1, 85--108 (2010; Zbl 1205.65248)]). Finally, the authors present numerical simulations for simplified magnetic induction equations in two spatial dimensions. The results confirm the predicted orders of convergence in the finite difference methods. As an outlook, numerical simulations are also shown in case of a discontinuous velocity field.