A-Stable Time Discretizations Preserve Maximal Parabolic Regularity

Abstract

It is shown that for a parabolic problem with maximal $L^p$-regularity (for $1<p<\infty$), the time discretization by a linear multistep method or Runge--Kutta method has maximal $\ell^p$-regularity uniformly in the stepsize if the method is A-stable (and satisfies minor additional conditions). In particular, the implicit Euler method, the Crank--Nicolson method, the second-order backward difference formula (BDF), and the Radau IIA and Gauss Runge--Kutta methods of all orders preserve maximal regularity. The proof uses Weis' characterization of maximal $L^p$-regularity in terms of $R$-boundedness of the resolvent, a discrete operator-valued Fourier multiplier theorem by Blunck, and generating function techniques that have been familiar in the stability analysis of time discretization methods since the work of Dahlquist. The A($\alpha$)-stable higher-order BDF methods have maximal $\ell^p$-regularity under an $R$-boundedness condition in a larger sector. As an illustration of the use of maximal regularity ...