An Adaptive P 1 Finite Element Method for Two-Dimensional Maxwell’s Equations

Abstract

Recently a new numerical approach for two-dimensional Maxwell's equations based on the Hodge decomposition for divergence-free vector fields was introduced by Brenner et al. In this paper we present an adaptive P 1 finite element method for two-dimensional Maxwell's equations that is based on this new approach. The reliability and efficiency of a posteriori error estimators based on the residual and the dual weighted-residual are verified numerically. The performance of the new approach is shown to be competitive with the lowest order edge element of Nedelec's first family.