Functional analysis and exterior calculus on mixed-dimensional geometries (Q2658543)

This paper deals with differential forms on mixed-dimensional geometries, in the sense of a domain containing sets of \(d\)-dimensional manifolds, structured hierarchically so that each \(d\)-dimensional manifold is contained in the boundary of one or more \(d+1\)-dimensional manifolds. On any given \(d\)-dimensional manifold, the authors consider differential operators tangent to the manifold as well as discrete differential operators (jumps) normal to the manifold. The combined action of these operators leads to the notion of a semi-discrete differential operator coupling manifolds of different dimensions. They refer to the resulting systems of equations as mixed-dimensional, which have become a popular modeling technique for physical applications including fractured and composite materials. They establish analytical tools in the mixed-dimensional setting, including suitable inner products, differential and codifferential operators, Poincaré lemma, and Poincaré-Friedrichs inequality. The paper is concluded by defining the mixed-dimensional minimization problem corresponding to the Hodge Laplacian, and the authors show that this minimization problem is well-posed. The paper is organized as follows. Section 1, is an introduction to the subject. In Section 2, the authors summarize the geometric setting of interest, and the notational conventions used. Section 3 deals with diferential forms. Here the authors provide an extension of the exterior derivative and the inner product to the geometry and structures of the above section, and prove properties of the resulting operators. In Sections 4, the authors derive various problems of practical relevance, including variational problems and strong forms of diferential equations. Section 5 offers some conclusions.