Approximation of solutions to non-local history-valued retarded differential equations (Q2490198)

The differential problem is of the following general form \[ u(t)^{'}+Au(t)=f(t,u(t),u_t),\;\;t\in (0,T],\;\;g(u_0)=\phi \;\text{ on}\;[-\tau,0].\tag{1} \] Here \(u\) is a function defined on the interval \([-\tau,T]\) with values in a separable Hilbert space \(H\), and \(A\) is a closed, positive definite, self-adjoint operator, while \(-A\) is an infinitesimal generator of an analytic semi-group. It is assumed moreover that \(A\) has the pure point spectrum \(0<\lambda_0\leq\lambda_1\leq\cdots\) and a complete orthogonal system of eigenfunctions \(\phi_0,\phi_1,\dots\). Under certain additional assumptions concerning (1) the authors define the mild solution of (1) as a function \(u\) satisfying the integral equation of the form similar to the result of application to (1) of the method of ``variation of a constant''. The similar ``approximate'' integral equations are defined with the help of the orthogonal projectors \(P^n\) onto the consecutive eigenspaces \(H_n=\text{ span}\{\phi_0,\phi_1,\dots,\phi_n\}\). Existence of the unique ``mild'' solutions \(u\) and \(u_n\), respectively is proved. The ``Faedo-Galerkin approximation'' of the solution \(u\) is then defined as \({\bar u}_n=P^nu_n\). Since the elements \({\bar u}_n\) can be expressed as a linear combination of the eigenfunctions \(\phi_j,\;j=0,1,\dots,n\), hence, for certain simple operators \(A\), \({\bar u}_n\) may be approximately computed. An example is joint.