Mathematics – Numerical Analysis
Scientific paper
2006-05-22
Math. Comp., 77:159-179, 2008
Mathematics
Numerical Analysis
21 pages, 3 figures; removed superfluous material (+/- 1 page), added paragraph to conclusion and two references
Scientific paper
10.1090/S0025-5718-07-02016-9
We consider the numerical evaluation of the Evans function, a Wronskian-like determinant that arises in the study of the stability of travelling waves. Constructing the Evans function involves matching the solutions of a linear ordinary differential equation depending on the spectral parameter. The problem becomes stiff as the spectral parameter grows. Consequently, the Gauss--Legendre method has previously been used for such problems; however more recently, methods based on the Magnus expansion have been proposed. Here we extensively examine the stiff regime for a general scalar Schr\"odinger operator. We show that although the fourth-order Magnus method suffers from order reduction, a fortunate cancellation when computing the Evans matching function means that fourth-order convergence in the end result is preserved. The Gauss--Legendre method does not suffer from order reduction, but it does not experience the cancellation either, and thus it has the same order of convergence in the end result. Finally we discuss the relative merits of both methods as spectral tools.
Malham Simon
Niesen Jitse
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