An asymptotic-numerical approach for examining global solutions to an ordinary differential equation

Abstract

Purely numerical methods do not always provide an accurate way to find all the global solutions to nonlinear ODE on infinite intervals. For example, finite-difference methods fail to capture the asymptotic behavior of solutions, which might be critical for ensuring global existence. We first show, by way of a detailed example, how asymptotic information alone provides significant insight into the structure of global solutions to a nonlinear ODE. Then we propose a method for providing this missing asymptotic data to a numerical solver, and show how the combined approach provides more detailed results than either method alone.