On the convergence in \(C\) norm of symmetric difference schemes for nonlinear evolution problems (Q1324852)

This paper deals with numerical methods for solving the initial-boundary value problem for the equation \(\partial u/\partial t= Lu+ f(x,u)\). The operator \(Lu\) is the simplest case of the elliptic or Schrödinger operator \(L_ 1 u= \partial^ 2 u/\partial x^ 2\), \(L_ 2 u=i(\partial^ 2 u/\partial x^ 2)\). The well-known diffusion-reaction mathematical model is considered in the first case and the nonlinear Schrödinger equation appearing in various areas of nonlinear optics and plasma physics is solved in the second case. An investigation of the symmetric difference scheme in \(C\) norm is the main interest of this paper. The difference schemes are described in Section 2 and important a priori bounds for the solution are proved, which are essential in the next section of the paper. The parabolic problem \(L_ 1 u\) is investigated in Section 3 and the unconditional convergence is proved for the symmetric and the higher-order difference scheme. Sections 4 and 5 are devoted to nonlinear Schrödinger equation and various cases of convergence are investigated, depending on the a priori information about the smoothness and boundedness of the solution. The methods are then tested in Section 6 by solving numerically the single soliton test problem. The main conclusion from the results of the numerical experiment is that there exists a certain connection between difference scheme parameters \(\tau\) and \(h\) under which the accuracy of the numerical solution is optimal.