Well-posedness and time discretization of a nonlinear Volterra integrodifferential equation (Q1607583)

The paper is devoted to the study of a nonlinear abstract integro-differential equation of Volterra type, containing a maximal monotone operator and a Lipschitz continuous operator, with a special inclusion in Hilbert spaces. Conditions are given for a solution of the associated Cauchy problem to be unique. A semi-implicit time discretization procedure, involving discrete convolution and approximation of the considered equations, is developed. The results obtained are used to prove the global existence of a solution of the initial problem and to establish estimates for the discretization error. Applications are indicated to a Stefan problem in the theory of heat conduction in materials with memory, when the considered abstract equation is the integro-partial differential equation of the form \[ u_{t}-\Delta (\theta +k\ast \theta)=g(\theta)+f, \] with the standard convolution \((k\ast \theta)(.,t)=\int^{t}_{0}k(t-s)\theta(.,s) ds\) and source terms \(f\) and \(g\).