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A Discrete Exterior Calculus of Bundle-valued Forms
Authors:
Theo Braune,
Yiying Tong,
François Gay-Balmaz,
Mathieu Desbrun
Abstract:
The discretization of Cartan's exterior calculus of differential forms has been fruitful in a variety of theoretical and practical endeavors: from computational electromagnetics to the development of Finite-Element Exterior Calculus, the development of structure-preserving numerical tools satisfying exact discrete equivalents to Stokes' theorem or the de Rham complex for the exterior derivative ha…
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The discretization of Cartan's exterior calculus of differential forms has been fruitful in a variety of theoretical and practical endeavors: from computational electromagnetics to the development of Finite-Element Exterior Calculus, the development of structure-preserving numerical tools satisfying exact discrete equivalents to Stokes' theorem or the de Rham complex for the exterior derivative have found numerous applications in computational physics. However, there has been a dearth of effort in establishing a more general discrete calculus, this time for differential forms with values in vector bundles over a combinatorial manifold equipped with a connection. In this work, we propose a discretization of the exterior covariant derivative of bundle-valued differential forms. We demonstrate that our discrete operator mimics its continuous counterpart, satisfies the Bianchi identities on simplicial cells, and contrary to previous attempts at its discretization, ensures numerical convergence to its exact evaluation with mesh refinement under mild assumptions.
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Submitted 22 May, 2025; v1 submitted 8 June, 2024;
originally announced June 2024.
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Variational Partitioned Runge-Kutta methods for Lagrangians linear in velocities
Authors:
Tomasz M. Tyranowski,
Mathieu Desbrun
Abstract:
In this paper we construct higher-order variational integrators for a class of degenerate systems described by Lagrangians that are linear in velocities. We analyze the geometry underlying such systems and develop the appropriate theory for variational integration. Our main observation is that the evolution takes place on the primary constraint and the 'Hamiltonian' equations of motion can be form…
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In this paper we construct higher-order variational integrators for a class of degenerate systems described by Lagrangians that are linear in velocities. We analyze the geometry underlying such systems and develop the appropriate theory for variational integration. Our main observation is that the evolution takes place on the primary constraint and the 'Hamiltonian' equations of motion can be formulated as an index-1 differential-algebraic system. We also construct variational Runge-Kutta methods and analyze their properties. The general properties of Runge-Kutta methods depend on the 'velocity' part of the Lagrangian. If the 'velocity' part is also linear in the position coordinate, then we show that non-partitioned variational Runge-Kutta methods are equivalent to integration of the corresponding first-order Euler-Lagrange equations, which have the form of a Poisson system with a constant structure matrix, and the classical properties of the Runge-Kutta method are retained. If the 'velocity' part is nonlinear in the position coordinate, we observe a reduction of the order of convergence, which is typical of numerical integration of DAEs. We verify our results through numerical experiments for various dynamical systems.
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Submitted 30 January, 2014;
originally announced January 2014.
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R-adaptive multisymplectic and variational integrators
Authors:
Tomasz M. Tyranowski,
Mathieu Desbrun
Abstract:
Moving mesh methods (also called r-adaptive methods) are space-adaptive strategies used for the numerical simulation of time-dependent partial differential equations. These methods keep the total number of mesh points fixed during the simulation, but redistribute them over time to follow the areas where a higher mesh point density is required. There are a very limited number of moving mesh methods…
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Moving mesh methods (also called r-adaptive methods) are space-adaptive strategies used for the numerical simulation of time-dependent partial differential equations. These methods keep the total number of mesh points fixed during the simulation, but redistribute them over time to follow the areas where a higher mesh point density is required. There are a very limited number of moving mesh methods designed for solving field-theoretic partial differential equations, and the numerical analysis of the resulting schemes is challenging. In this paper we present two ways to construct r-adaptive variational and multisymplectic integrators for (1+1)-dimensional Lagrangian field theories. The first method uses a variational discretization of the physical equations and the mesh equations are then coupled in a way typical of the existing r-adaptive schemes. The second method treats the mesh points as pseudo-particles and incorporates their dynamics directly into the variational principle. A user-specified adaptation strategy is then enforced through Lagrange multipliers as a constraint on the dynamics of both the physical field and the mesh points. We discuss the advantages and limitations of our methods. Numerical results for the Sine-Gordon equation are also presented.
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Submitted 30 July, 2019; v1 submitted 27 March, 2013;
originally announced March 2013.
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On the coupling between an ideal fluid and immersed particles
Authors:
Henry O. Jacobs,
Tudor S. Ratiu,
Mathieu Desbrun
Abstract:
In this paper we use Lagrange-Poincare reduction to understand the coupling between a fluid and a set of Lagrangian particles that are supposed to simulate it. In particular, we reinterpret the work of Cendra et al. by substituting velocity interpolation from particle velocities for their principal connection. The consequence of writing evolution equations in terms of interpolation is two-fold. Fi…
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In this paper we use Lagrange-Poincare reduction to understand the coupling between a fluid and a set of Lagrangian particles that are supposed to simulate it. In particular, we reinterpret the work of Cendra et al. by substituting velocity interpolation from particle velocities for their principal connection. The consequence of writing evolution equations in terms of interpolation is two-fold. First, it gives estimates on the error incurred when interpolation is used to derive the evolution of the system. Second, this form of the equations of motion can inspire a family of particle and hybrid particle-spectral methods where the error analysis is "built-in". We also discuss the influence of other parameters attached to the particles, such as shape, orientation, or higher-order deformations, and how they can help with conservation of momenta in the sense of Kelvin's circulation theorem.
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Submitted 19 June, 2013; v1 submitted 31 August, 2012;
originally announced August 2012.
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Structure-Preserving Discretization of Incompressible Fluids
Authors:
Dmitry Pavlov,
Patrick Mullen,
Yiying Tong,
Eva Kanso,
Jerrold E. Marsden,
Mathieu Desbrun
Abstract:
The geometric nature of Euler fluids has been clearly identified and extensively studied over the years, culminating with Lagrangian and Hamiltonian descriptions of fluid dynamics where the configuration space is defined as the volume-preserving diffeomorphisms, and Kelvin's circulation theorem is viewed as a consequence of Noether's theorem associated with the particle relabeling symmetry of flui…
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The geometric nature of Euler fluids has been clearly identified and extensively studied over the years, culminating with Lagrangian and Hamiltonian descriptions of fluid dynamics where the configuration space is defined as the volume-preserving diffeomorphisms, and Kelvin's circulation theorem is viewed as a consequence of Noether's theorem associated with the particle relabeling symmetry of fluid mechanics. However computational approaches to fluid mechanics have been largely derived from a numerical-analytic point of view, and are rarely designed with structure preservation in mind, and often suffer from spurious numerical artifacts such as energy and circulation drift. In contrast, this paper geometrically derives discrete equations of motion for fluid dynamics from first principles in a purely Eulerian form. Our approach approximates the group of volume-preserving diffeomorphisms using a finite dimensional Lie group, and associated discrete Euler equations are derived from a variational principle with non-holonomic constraints. The resulting discrete equations of motion yield a structure-preserving time integrator with good long-term energy behavior and for which an exact discrete Kelvin's circulation theorem holds.
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Submitted 25 March, 2010; v1 submitted 20 December, 2009;
originally announced December 2009.
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Discrete Lie Advection of Differential Forms
Authors:
P. Mullen,
A. McKenzie,
D. Pavlov,
L. Durant,
Y. Tong,
E. Kanso,
J. E. Marsden,
M. Desbrun
Abstract:
In this paper, we present a numerical technique for performing Lie advection of arbitrary differential forms. Leveraging advances in high-resolution finite volume methods for scalar hyperbolic conservation laws, we first discretize the interior product (also called contraction) through integrals over Eulerian approximations of extrusions. This, along with Cartan's homotopy formula and a discrete e…
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In this paper, we present a numerical technique for performing Lie advection of arbitrary differential forms. Leveraging advances in high-resolution finite volume methods for scalar hyperbolic conservation laws, we first discretize the interior product (also called contraction) through integrals over Eulerian approximations of extrusions. This, along with Cartan's homotopy formula and a discrete exterior derivative, can then be used to derive a discrete Lie derivative. The usefulness of this operator is demonstrated through the numerical advection of scalar fields and 1-forms on regular grids.
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Submitted 12 August, 2010; v1 submitted 7 December, 2009;
originally announced December 2009.
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Discrete Geometric Structures in Homogenization and Inverse Homogenization with application to EIT
Authors:
Mathieu Desbrun,
Roger D. Donaldson,
Houman Owhadi
Abstract:
We introduce a new geometric approach for the homogenization and inverse homogenization of the divergence form elliptic operator with rough conductivity coefficients $σ(x)$ in dimension two. We show that conductivity coefficients are in one-to-one correspondence with divergence-free matrices and convex functions $s(x)$ over the domain $Ω$. Although homogenization is a non-linear and non-injectiv…
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We introduce a new geometric approach for the homogenization and inverse homogenization of the divergence form elliptic operator with rough conductivity coefficients $σ(x)$ in dimension two. We show that conductivity coefficients are in one-to-one correspondence with divergence-free matrices and convex functions $s(x)$ over the domain $Ω$. Although homogenization is a non-linear and non-injective operator when applied directly to conductivity coefficients, homogenization becomes a linear interpolation operator over triangulations of $Ω$ when re-expressed using convex functions, and is a volume averaging operator when re-expressed with divergence-free matrices. Using optimal weighted Delaunay triangulations for linearly interpolating convex functions, we obtain an optimally robust homogenization algorithm for arbitrary rough coefficients. Next, we consider inverse homogenization and show how to decompose it into a linear ill-posed problem and a well-posed non-linear problem. We apply this new geometric approach to Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT). It is known that the EIT problem admits at most one isotropic solution. If an isotropic solution exists, we show how to compute it from any conductivity having the same boundary Dirichlet-to-Neumann map. It is known that the EIT problem admits a unique (stable with respect to $G$-convergence) solution in the space of divergence-free matrices. As such we suggest that the space of convex functions is the natural space in which to parameterize solutions of the EIT problem.
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Submitted 6 May, 2009; v1 submitted 17 April, 2009;
originally announced April 2009.
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Variational Integrators for Maxwell's Equations with Sources
Authors:
Ari Stern,
Yiying Tong,
Mathieu Desbrun,
Jerrold E. Marsden
Abstract:
In recent years, two important techniques for geometric numerical discretization have been developed. In computational electromagnetics, spatial discretization has been improved by the use of mixed finite elements and discrete differential forms. Simultaneously, the dynamical systems and mechanics communities have developed structure-preserving time integrators, notably variational integrators t…
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In recent years, two important techniques for geometric numerical discretization have been developed. In computational electromagnetics, spatial discretization has been improved by the use of mixed finite elements and discrete differential forms. Simultaneously, the dynamical systems and mechanics communities have developed structure-preserving time integrators, notably variational integrators that are constructed from a Lagrangian action principle. Here, we discuss how to combine these two frameworks to develop variational spacetime integrators for Maxwell's equations. Extending our previous work, which first introduced this variational perspective for Maxwell's equations without sources, we also show here how to incorporate free sources of charge and current.
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Submitted 13 March, 2008;
originally announced March 2008.
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Geometric Computational Electrodynamics with Variational Integrators and Discrete Differential Forms
Authors:
Ari Stern,
Yiying Tong,
Mathieu Desbrun,
Jerrold E. Marsden
Abstract:
In this paper, we develop a structure-preserving discretization of the Lagrangian framework for electromagnetism, combining techniques from variational integrators and discrete differential forms. This leads to a general family of variational, multisymplectic numerical methods for solving Maxwell's equations that automatically preserve key symmetries and invariants.
In doing so, we demonstrate…
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In this paper, we develop a structure-preserving discretization of the Lagrangian framework for electromagnetism, combining techniques from variational integrators and discrete differential forms. This leads to a general family of variational, multisymplectic numerical methods for solving Maxwell's equations that automatically preserve key symmetries and invariants.
In doing so, we demonstrate several new results, which apply both to some well-established numerical methods and to new methods introduced here. First, we show that Yee's finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) scheme, along with a number of related methods, are multisymplectic and derive from a discrete Lagrangian variational principle. Second, we generalize the Yee scheme to unstructured meshes, not just in space but in 4-dimensional spacetime. This relaxes the need to take uniform time steps, or even to have a preferred time coordinate at all. Finally, as an example of the type of methods that can be developed within this general framework, we introduce a new asynchronous variational integrator (AVI) for solving Maxwell's equations. These results are illustrated with some prototype simulations that show excellent energy and conservation behavior and lack of spurious modes, even for an irregular mesh with asynchronous time stepping.
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Submitted 27 May, 2009; v1 submitted 30 July, 2007;
originally announced July 2007.
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Discrete Exterior Calculus
Authors:
Mathieu Desbrun,
Anil N. Hirani,
Melvin Leok,
Jerrold E. Marsden
Abstract:
We present a theory and applications of discrete exterior calculus on simplicial complexes of arbitrary finite dimension. This can be thought of as calculus on a discrete space. Our theory includes not only discrete differential forms but also discrete vector fields and the operators acting on these objects. This allows us to address the various interactions between forms and vector fields (such…
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We present a theory and applications of discrete exterior calculus on simplicial complexes of arbitrary finite dimension. This can be thought of as calculus on a discrete space. Our theory includes not only discrete differential forms but also discrete vector fields and the operators acting on these objects. This allows us to address the various interactions between forms and vector fields (such as Lie derivatives) which are important in applications. Previous attempts at discrete exterior calculus have addressed only differential forms. We also introduce the notion of a circumcentric dual of a simplicial complex. The importance of dual complexes in this field has been well understood, but previous researchers have used barycentric subdivision or barycentric duals. We show that the use of circumcentric duals is crucial in arriving at a theory of discrete exterior calculus that admits both vector fields and forms.
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Submitted 18 August, 2005; v1 submitted 18 August, 2005;
originally announced August 2005.