A quadrature-based approach to improving the collocation method

Summary The collocation method is a popular method for the approximate solution of boundary integral equations, but typically does not achieve the high order of convergence reached by the Galerkin method in appropriate negative norms. In this paper a quadrature-based method for improving upon the collocation method is proposed, and developed in detail for a particular case. That case involves operators with even symbol (such as the logarithmic potential) operating on 1-periodic functions; a smooth-spline trial space of odd degree, with constant mesh spacingh=1/n; and a quadrature rule with 2n points (where ann-point quadrature rule would be equivalent to the collocation method). In this setting it is shown that a special quadrature rule (which depends on the degree of the splines and the order of the operator) can yield a maximum order of convergence two powers ofh higher than the collocation method.