A spectral collocation method for a weakly singular Volterra integral equation of the second kind (Q503475)

This paper is dedicated to the solution of the following weakly singular Volterra integral equation \[ y(t)-\int_{-1}^{t}(t-s)^{-\mu}b(t,s)y(s)ds=f(t), \quad t\in[-1,1], \] where \(y(t)\) is the unknown function, the parameter \(\mu\in(0,1)\) is given, and \(f\in \mathbb C^m[-1,1]\) and \(b(t,s)\in \mathbb C^m([-1,1]\times[-1,1])\) for some \(m\geq 1\). The solution \(y(t)\) of such equation has, in general, a certain singular behaviour near the origin \(t=-1:\) \(|y'(t)|\sim (1+t)^{-\mu}\). The authors suggest the spectral collocation method and analyse its error. An iterated spectral method that improves the accuracy of the original method is also investigated. Numerical results for some values of parameter \(\mu\) are presented in conclusion.