Divergence- and Curl-Preserving Prolongation and Restriction Formulas

Abstract

We present new second-order prolongation and restriction formulas which preserve the divergence and, in some cases, the curl of a discretized vector field. The formulas are suitable for adaptive and hierarchical mesh algorithms with a factor-of-2 linear resolution change. We examine both staggered and collocated discretizations for the vector field on two- and three-dimensional Cartesian grids. The new formulas can be used in combination with numerical schemes that require a divergence-free solution in some discrete sense, such as the constrained transport schemes of computational magnetohydrodynamics. We also obtain divergence-preserving interpolation functions which may be used for streamline or field line tracing.