Finite Difference Method for Generalized Zakharov Equations

Abstract

Abstract. A conservative difference scheme is presented for the initial-boundary value problem for generalized Zakharov equations. The scheme canbe implicit or semiexplicit depending on the choice of a parameter. On thebasis of a priori estimates and an inequality about norms, convergence of thedifference solution is proved in order 0(h2 + t2) , which is better than previous results. IntroductionThe Zakharov equations [20](1.1) iEt + Exx-NE = 0,(1.2) ^Ntt-{N+\E\2)xx = 0describe the propagation of Langmuir waves in plasmas. Here the complexunknown function E is the slowly varying envelope of the highly oscillatoryelectric field, and the unknown real function N denotes the fluctuation of the ion density about its equilibrium value.The global existence of a weak solution for the Zakharov equations in one dimension is proved in [19], and existence and uniqueness of a smooth solutionfor the equations are obtained provided smooth initial data are prescribed.Numerical methods for the Zakharov equations are studied only in [5, 9, 10,