English

A space-time finite element method for parabolic obstacle problems

Numerical Analysis 2025-03-12 v1 Numerical Analysis

Abstract

We propose and analyze a general framework for space-time finite element methods that is based on least-squares finite element methods for solving a first-order reformulation of the thick parabolic obstacle problem. Discretizations based on simplicial and prismatic meshes are studied and we show a priori error estimates for both. Convergence rates are derived for sufficiently smooth solutions. Reliable a posteriori bounds are provided and used to steer an adaptive algorithm. Numerical experiments including a one-phase Stefan problem and an American option pricing problem are presented.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2503.07808,
  title  = {A space-time finite element method for parabolic obstacle problems},
  author = {José Joaquín Carvajal and Davood Damircheli and Thomas Führer and Francisco Fuica and Michael Karkulik},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.07808},
  year   = {2025}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T22:14:48.912Z