Local error estimation for multistep collocation methods

Multistep collocation methods for initial value problems in ordinary differential equations are known to be a subclass of multistep Runge-Kutta methods and a generalisation of the well-known class of one-step collocation methods as well as of the one-leg methods of Dahlquist. In this paper we derive an error estimation method of embedded type for multistep collocation methods based on perturbed multistep collocation methods. This parallels and generalizes the results for one-step collocation methods by Nørsett and Wanner. Simple numerical experiments show that this error estimator agrees well with a theoretical error estimate which is a generalisation of an error estimate first derived by Dahlquist for one-leg methods.