A posteriori error analysis for time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau type equations

This work presents an a posteriori error analysis for the finite element approximation of time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau type equations in two and three space dimensions. The solution of an elliptic, self-adjoint eigenvalue problem as a postprocessing procedure in each time step of a finite element simulation leads to a fully computable upper bound for the error. Theoretical results for the stability of degree one vortices in Ginzburg-Landau equations and of generic interfaces in Allen-Cahn equations indicate that the error estimate only depends on the inverse of a small parameter in a low order polynomial. The actual dependence of the error estimate upon this parameter is explicitly determined by the computed eigenvalues and can therefore be monitored within an approximation scheme. The error bound allows for the introduction of local refinement indicators which may be used for adaptive mesh and time step size refinement and coarsening. Numerical experiments underline the reliability of this approach.