A modified difference scheme for periodic and semiperiodic Sturm- Liouville problems (Q1902064)

The computation of eigenvalues \(\lambda_1 < \lambda_2 \dots\) of the regular Sturm-Liouville problem \(-y'' + q(x)y = \lambda y\), with periodic \(y(0) = y(\pi)\), \(y'(0) = y'(\pi)\) or semiperiodic \(y(0) = -y(\pi)\), \(y'(0) = -y'(\pi)\) boundary conditions using finite difference and finite element methods is considered. The reduction of the error of the eigenvalues by a simple step-dependent linear multistep method is studied. The classical finite difference method introduced by \textit{A. I. Andrew} [BIT 28, No. 2, 254-269 (1988; Zbl 0646.65070)] is commented. Numerical experiments taking \(q(x) = x^2 (\pi - x)\) in the above problem are carried out and the results are tabulated. The usefulness of the approach is shown even for low-lying eigenvalues.