Finite elements for Wasserstein \(\mathbb{W}_p\) gradient flows (Q6962583)

Models for Wasserstein \(W_p\) gradient flows appear as diffusive approximations of the Euler or shallow water equations with high and possibly non-linear friction. The gradient flow structure with \(p=2\) has been used to construct weak solutions as limits of a variational time discretization to prove qualitative properties of solutions, like energy dissipation and instantaneous regularization. But, the theory for metric \(p=2\)-gradient flows with \(p\neq 2\) is much weaker than the one for \(p=2\), where the geodesic convexity of the energy functional would have consequences on the long-time asymptotics. In this paper, the gradient flow structure is used in a particular way, where the finite element discretization ensures energy dissipating and a weak solution of the PDE. The derived a priori error estimates show the global mass conservativity and the energy diminishing property of the scheme. Numerical experiments for Barenblatt solution of the \(q\)-Laplace equation and the \(q\)-Laplace equation with a non-zero potential demonstrate the correctness of analytical solutions