A piecewise constant collocation method using cosine mesh grading for Symm's equation (Q1326459)

It is well-known that the solution of Symm's integral equation, \[ - (1/\pi)\int^ 1_{-1} \log| t- s| u(s)ds= f(t),\quad t\in [- 1,1], \] with smooth \(f\), has endpoint singularities of the form \((1- s^ 2)^{-1/2}\). Numerical experiments indicate that a proper choice of the collocation points in piecewise constant collocation is \(t_{j-1/2}= -1+ ((2j- 1)/n)^ q\) if \(1\leq j\leq n/2\), and \(t_{j-1/2}= 1-((2n+ 1- 2j)/n)^ q\) if \(n/2+ 1\leq j\leq n\), with \(q=2\), but the underlying theory is currently not understood. The authors show that a cosine mesh grading, with collocation points given by \(t_{j-1/2}= -\cos((j- 1/2)\pi/n)\), \(1\leq j\leq n\), also achieves optimal \({\mathcal O}(n^{-3})\) convergence. Their analysis is based on Fourier methods; however, new techniques have to be employed since some of the crucial properties are lost when passing from uniform to non-uniform meshes. Numerical results for a problem arising from an exterior Dirichlet problem (approximation of the potential function) convincingly illustrate the theory.