A remark on the \(L^{\infty}\) bounds of the Ritz operator associated with a finite element approximation (Q1821527)

The Dirichlet problem \(Au=f\), \(u|_{\partial \Omega}=0\) in a two- dimensional polygonal domain \(\Omega\) is considered for a second order uniformly elliptic operator A. Suppose \(V=H_ 0^ 1(\Omega)\), \(W_ h\) is the finite element space generated by triangular linear elements on quasi-uniform triangularization of \(\Omega\), \(V_ h=W_ h\cap H^ 1_ 0(\Omega)\), \(R_ h\) is the Ritz operator, i.e. \(R_ hu=u_ h\) is the finite element solution of the Dirichlet problem. It is shown that for \(p>2\) there exists a constant C such that \[ (1)\quad \| R_ hu\|_{L^{\infty}}\leq C\| u\|_{W^{1,p}},\quad u\in W^{1,p}(\Omega)\cap V. \] Under some assumptions it is shown also that this estimate implies the inequality \(\| \chi \|_{L^{\infty}}\leq C\| A_ h^{1/2+\epsilon}\chi \|_{L^ 2}\), \(\chi \in V_ h\) for \(\epsilon >0\), C independent of the parameter of triangularization h and the operator \(A_ h\) defined by the identity \(a(u,v)=(A_ hu,v)\), \(u,v\in V_ h\) with the bilinear form a(u,v) corresponding to the Dirichlet problem. The last inequality is a discrete form of the elliptic Sobolev inequality. The results are generalized on a broader class of second order coercive operators. The authors mention that a sharper estimate than (1) was obtained by \textit{R. Rannacher} and \textit{R. Scott} [Math. Comput. 38, 437- 445 (1982; Zbl 0483.65007)] but they used another method of proof.