An approximation method using approximate approximations

Abstract

The aim of this article is to extend the method of approximate approximations to boundary value problems. This method was introduced by V. Maz'ya in 1991 and has been used until now for the approximation of smooth functions defined on the whole space and for the approximation of volume potentials. In the present article we develop an approximation procedure for the solution of the interior Dirichlet problem for the Laplace equation in two dimensions using approximate approximations. The procedure is based on potential theoretical considerations in connection with a boundary integral equations method and consists of three approximation steps as follows. In the first step, the unknown source density in the potential representation of the solution is replaced by approximate approximations. In the second, the decay behavior of the generating functions is used to gain a suitable approximation for the potential kernel, and in the third, Nyström's method leads to a linear algebraic system for the approximate source density. For every step a convergence analysis is established and corresponding error estimates are given.