On Numerical Algorithms for the Solution of a Beltrami Equation

Abstract

The paper concerns numerical algorithms for solving the Beltrami equation $f_{\bar{z}}(z)=\mu(z) f_z(z)$ for a compactly supported $\mu$. First, we study an efficient algorithm that has been proposed in [P. Daripa, J. Comput. Phys., 106 (1993), pp. 355-365] and [P. Daripa and D. Mashat, Numer. Algorithms, 18 (1998), pp. 133-157] and present its rigorous justification. We then propose a different scheme for solving the Beltrami equation which has a comparable speed and accuracy, but has the virtue of easier implementation by avoiding the use of the Hilbert transform. The present paper can also be viewed as a prologue to one important application of the Beltrami equation: it provides a detailed description of the algorithm that has been used in [D. Gaidashev, Nonlinearity, 20 (1998), pp. 713-741] and [D. Gaidashev and M. Yampolsky, Experiment. Math., 16 (2007), pp. 215-226] to address an important issue in complex dynamics—conjectural universality for Siegel disks.