A new algorithm for two-dimensional numerical continuation (Q1903762)

Let \(F : \mathbb{R}^{n + 2} \mapsto \mathbb{R}^n\) be a smooth mapping for which the zero set \(M = F^{(-1)}(0)\) is a two-dimensional submanifold of \(\mathbb{R}^{n + 2}\). In recent years several methods for approximating such implicitly defined manifolds have been proposed [see \textit{E. L. Allgower} and \textit{S. Gnutzmann}, SIAM J. Numer. Anal. 24, 452-469 (1987; Zbl 0618.65006); \textit{W. C. Rheinboldt}, Numer. Math. 53, No. 1/2, 165-181 (1988; Zbl 0676.65047); \textit{M. E. Henderson}, IBM Research Report RC 18777 (1993); \textit{M. L. Brodzik} and \textit{W. C. Rheinboldt}, Comput. Math. Appl. 28, No. 9, 9-21 (1994; Zbl 0815.65068)]. In this paper a new method is developed for tesselating a bounded subset of \(M\) by a cell-complex. In essence, a complex of non-overlapping cells with piecewise curved boundaries is constructed by a fish-scale pattern of one-dimensional paths on \(M\). The path-segments are computed by a one-dimensional continuation process. Several examples show that the method performs well even in areas of large curvature.