English

Geometric Finite Element Discretization of Maxwell Equations in Primal and Dual Spaces

Computational Physics 2009-11-11 v2 Classical Physics

Abstract

Based on a geometric discretization scheme for Maxwell equations, we unveil a mathematical\textit{\}transformation between the electric field intensity EE and the magnetic field intensity HH, denoted as Galerkin duality. Using Galerkin duality and discrete Hodge operators, we construct two system matrices, [XE][ X_{E}] (primal formulation) and [XH[ X_{H} % ] (dual formulation) respectively, that discretize the second-order vector wave equations. We show that the primal formulation recovers the conventional (edge-element) finite element method (FEM) and suggests a geometric foundation for it. On the other hand, the dual formulation suggests a new (dual) type of FEM. Although both formulations give identical dynamical physical solutions, the dimensions of the null spaces are different.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.physics/0503013,
  title  = {Geometric Finite Element Discretization of Maxwell Equations in Primal and Dual Spaces},
  author = {Bo He and F. L. Teixeira},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0503013},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

22 pages and 4 figures