In
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
, a multisymplectic integrator is a
numerical method
In numerical analysis, a numerical method is a mathematical tool designed to solve numerical problems. The implementation of a numerical method with an appropriate convergence check in a programming language is called a numerical algorithm.
Mathem ...
for the solution of a certain class of
partial differential equation
In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which imposes relations between the various partial derivatives of a Multivariable calculus, multivariable function.
The function is often thought of as an "unknown" to be sol ...
s, that are said to be multisymplectic. Multisymplectic integrators are
geometric integrator
In the mathematical field of numerical ordinary differential equations, a geometric integrator is a numerical method that preserves geometric properties of the exact flow of a differential equation.
Pendulum example
We can motivate the study of ...
s, meaning that they preserve the geometry of the problems; in particular, the numerical method preserves energy and momentum in some sense, similar to the partial differential equation itself. Examples of multisymplectic integrators include the Euler box scheme and the Preissman box scheme.
Multisymplectic equations
A partial differential equation (PDE) is said to be a multisymplectic equation if it can be written in the form
:
where
is the unknown,
and
are (constant)
skew-symmetric matrices and
denotes the
gradient
In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p is the "direction and rate of fastest increase". If the gradi ...
of
. This is a natural generalization of
, the form of a
Hamiltonian ODE.
Examples of multisymplectic PDEs include the nonlinear
Klein–Gordon equation , or more generally the nonlinear wave equation
, and the
KdV equation .
Define the
2-form
In mathematics, differential forms provide a unified approach to define integrands over curves, surfaces, solids, and higher-dimensional manifolds. The modern notion of differential forms was pioneered by Élie Cartan. It has many applications, ...
s
and
by
:
where
denotes the
dot product. The differential equation preserves symplecticity in the sense that
:
Taking the dot product of the PDE with
yields the local
conservation law
In physics, a conservation law states that a particular measurable property of an isolated physical system does not change as the system evolves over time. Exact conservation laws include conservation of energy, conservation of linear momentum, c ...
for energy:
:
[, p. 187; , p. 337–338.]
The local conservation law for momentum is derived similarly:
:
The Euler box scheme
A multisymplectic integrator is a numerical method for solving multisymplectic PDEs whose numerical solution conserves a discrete form of symplecticity. One example is the Euler box scheme, which is derived by applying the
symplectic Euler method In mathematics, the semi-implicit Euler method, also called symplectic Euler, semi-explicit Euler, Euler–Cromer, and Newton–Størmer–Verlet (NSV), is a modification of the Euler method for solving Hamilton's equations, a system of ordinary dif ...
to each independent variable.
[.]
The Euler box scheme uses a splitting of the skewsymmetric matrices
and
of the form:
:
For instance, one can take
and
to be the upper triangular part of
and
, respectively.
Now introduce a
uniform grid and let
denote the approximation to
where
and
are the grid spacing in the time- and space-direction. Then the Euler box scheme is
:
where the
finite difference operators are defined by
:
The Euler box scheme is a first-order method,
which satisfies the discrete conservation law
:
Preissman box scheme
Another multisymplectic integrator is the Preissman box scheme, which was introduced by Preissman in the context of hyperbolic PDEs. It is also known as the centred cell scheme. The Preissman box scheme can be derived by applying the
Implicit midpoint rule, which is a symplectic integrator, to each of the independent variables.
[; .] This leads to the scheme
:
where the finite difference operators
and
are defined as above and the values at the half-integers are defined by
:
The Preissman box scheme is a second-order multisymplectic integrator which satisfies the discrete conservation law
:
[; .]
Notes
References
* .
* .
* .
* .
* .
* {{citation , first1=Brian , last1=Moore , first2=Sebastian , last2=Reich , title=Backward error analysis for multi-symplectic integration methods , journal=Numer. Math. , volume=95 , issue=4 , pages=625–652 , year=2003 , doi=10.1007/s00211-003-0458-9 , citeseerx=10.1.1.163.8683 , s2cid=9669195 .
Numerical differential equations