Birkhoff normal form for splitting methods applied to semilinear Hamiltonian PDEs. Part I. Finite-dimensional discretization

Abstract

We consider discretized Hamiltonian PDEs associated with a Hamiltonian function that can be split into a linear unbounded operator and a regular nonlinear part. We consider splitting methods associated with this decomposition. Using a finite-dimensional Birkhoff normal form result, we show the almost preservation of the actions of the numerical solution associated with the splitting method over arbitrary long time and for asymptotically large level of space approximation, provided the Sobolev norm of the initial data is small enough. This result holds under generic non-resonance conditions on the frequencies of the linear operator and on the step size. We apply these results to nonlinear Schrödinger equations as well as the nonlinear wave equation.