Superconvergence of the split least-squares method for second-order hyperbolic equations (Q2874175)

The objective of this paper is to propose a split least-squares mixed finite element method for hyperbolic equations and to investigate superconvergence phenomena of the method. Depending on the physical quantities of interest, the authors introduce the flux variable \(\sigma\). By selecting the least-squares functional properly, the resulting procedure can be split into two independent symmetric positive definite schemes, one of which is for unknown variable \(u\) and the other of which is for the introduced unknown flux variable \(\sigma\). On regular quadrilateral grids, the primary solution \(u\) is approximated with continuous piecewise polynomial spaces and the introduced flux solution \(\sigma\) is approximated with standard mixed elements. Using the \(L^2\)-projection, some mixed finite element projections and the integral identities technique developed by \textit{Y. Chen} and \textit{D. Yu} [J. Comput. Math. 21, No. 6, 825--832 (2003; Zbl 1047.65094)] and by \textit{Y. Chen} and \textit{M. Zhang} [Appl. Numer. Math. 48, No. 2, 195--204 (2004; Zbl 1042.65082)], superconvergent \(H^1\) error estimates for \(u\) and \(L^2\) error estimates for \(\sigma\) are obtained. A numerical experiment is given to support the superconvergence result.