On the problem of spurious eigenvalues in the approximation of linear elliptic problems in mixed form (Q4700191)

Considered is, as a model problem, the eigenvalue problem \[ -\Delta u=\lambda u\quad\text{in }\Omega,\quad u=0\quad\text{on }\partial\Omega, \] where \(\Delta\) denotes the Laplacian and \(\Omega\) a convex polygonal domain. The problem is written in mixed form, and four finite element approaches are discussed. Though three of them satisfy the well-known inf-sup condition and also the ellipticity in kernel condition, only one of the approaches yields good approximations. The others fail by producing spurious eigensolutions. The authors present numerical results as well as theoretical explanations for the behaviour of the four schemes. In particular, they exhibit the important role of Fortini's condition in order to get good approximations.