Cubature over the sphere \(S^{2}\) in Sobolev spaces of arbitrary order (Q2502871)

The authors study the cubature over the unit sphere \(S^2\subset {\mathbb R}^3\) for functions in a Sobolev space \(H^s(S^2)\) with \(s>1\). They consider sequences \((Q_{m(n)})_{n=1}^{\infty}\) of cubature rules, where (i) \(Q_{m(n)}\) uses \(m(n)\) points of \(S^2\) and real weights, (ii) \(Q_{m(n)}\) integrates exactly all spherical polynomials of degree \(\leq n\), and (iii) the sequence \((Q_{m(n)})\) satisfies a certain local regularity property (which is fulfilled, if each \(Q_{m(n)}\) has positive weights). It is shown that for \(H^s(S^2)\)-functions with norm \(\leq 1\) the worst-case cubature error is of order \({\mathcal O}(n^{-s})\). This order is optimal for sequences \((Q_{m(n)})\) with properties (i)--(iii) if \(Q_{m(n)}\) uses \(m(n)={\mathcal O}(n^2)\) points.