On the convergence of split exponential integrators for semilinear parabolic problems

Splitting the exponential-like $\varphi$ functions, which typically appear in exponential integrators, is attractive in many situations since it can dramatically reduce the computational cost of the procedure. However, depending on the employed splitting, this can result in order reduction. The aim of this paper is to analyze different such split approximations. We perform the analysis for semilinear problems in the abstract framework of commuting semigroups and derive error bounds that depend, in particular, on whether the vector (to which the $\varphi$ functions are applied) satisfies appropriate boundary conditions. We then present the convergence analysis for two split versions of a second-order exponential Runge--Kutta integrator in the context of analytic semigroups, and show that one suffers from order reduction while the other does not. Numerical results for semidiscretized parabolic PDEs confirm the theoretical findings.