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arXiv · 2608.17575

Mixed Finite Element Methods for a Dirac Source: Divergence-Form Splitting and L^p Error Analysis

Yueyao Wu·Shun Zhang
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Abstract

For a mixed finite element method, a Dirac source is first a failure of duality, not of regularity: the conservation equation is tested against a Lebesgue space, and a Dirac measure lies in the dual of none. We therefore remove the measure from the conservation law by a divergence-form splitting. An explicit field whose divergence is the Dirac measure is subtracted from the physical flux, and the modified flux is taken as the mixed unknown, so that only the regular part of the load remains in the conservation equation. Equivalently, and independently of any discretization, the Dirac problem is rewritten as an elliptic equation whose data are in divergence form, generated by a field of L^p. The subtracted field depends on the location of the source alone and not on the coefficient. No coefficient-dependent singular solution and no discrete delta is needed, only the load vector of the RT_0-P_0 system changes, and the source may sit anywhere relative to the mesh: at a vertex, on a coefficient interface, or inside an element. Unless the splitting is matched to the operator at the source, the modified flux lies in L^p for every p<2 but not in L^2, so the flux error analysis has to leave the Hilbert scale. We prove a quasi-best approximation bound for the flux, and with it that on a quasi-uniform family the flux error is exactly of order h^(2/p-1): the matching lower bound comes already from the single element carrying the source. Grading the mesh there restores first-order complexity, N^(-1/2) in the number of elements, and the adaptive computations attain it. The scalar variable is limited only by piecewise constant approximation of the solution, which it attains. We also prove a residual norm equivalence in the Lebesgue scale, yielding a computable L^p estimator, reliable and locally efficient for the mixed flux together with a recovered potential.

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Yueyao Wu, Shun Zhang. 2026-08-18. Mixed Finite Element Methods for a Dirac Source: Divergence-Form Splitting and L^p Error Analysis. https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.17575

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