On the practical value of the notion ofBN-stability

The oldest concept of unconditional stability of numerical integration methods for ordinary differential systems is that ofA-stability. This concept is related to linear systems having constant coefficients and has been introduced by Dahlquist in 1963. More recently, since another contribution of Dahlquist in 1975, there has been much interest in unconditional stability properties of numerical integration methods when applied to non-linear dissipative systems (G-stability,BN-stability,A-contractivity). Various classes of implicit Runge-Kutta methods have already been shown to beBN-stable. However, contrary to the property ofA-stability, when implementing such a method for practical use this unconditional stability property may be lost. The present note clarifies this for a class of diagonally implicit methods and shows at the same time that Rosenbrock's method is notBN-stable.     

A proof of the first dahlquist barrier by order stars

Dahlquist proved that under the condition of zero-stability the order of lineark-step methods is bounded by 2[(k+2)/2]. In the present paper we provide a proof of this celebrated result by using the theory of order stars. Dedicated to Germund Dahlquist on his 60th birthday; the initial value and global maximum of our research.     

The equivalence of algebraic stability andAN-stability

It is shown that, under certain restrictions,AN-stability is equivalent to algebraic stability for general linear methods. The restrictions have the purpose of excluding from consideration methods which can be replaced by simpler methods in various specific ways andAN-stability is to be interpreted in the strong sense. This result generalizes known results for Runge-Kutta and for one-leg methods.     

Stability Analysis of Runge-Kutta Methods for Non-Linear Delay Differential Equations

This paper is concerned with the numerical solution of delay differential equations(DDEs). We focus on the stability behaviour of Runge-Kutta methods for nonlinear DDEs. The new concepts of GR(l)-stability, GAR(l)-stability and weak GAR(l)-stability are further introduced. We investigate these stability properties for (k, l)-algebraically stable Runge-Kutta methods with a piecewise constant or linear interpolation procedure.     

OnA-stable implicit Runge-Kutta methods

An elementary proof is given of theA-stability of implicit Runge-Kutta methods for which the corresponding rational function is on the diagonal or one of the first two subdiagonals of the Padé table for the exponential function. The result is extended to give necessary and sufficient conditions for theA-stability ofn-stage methods of order greater than or equal to 2n–2.     

Stability analysis of methods employing reducible rules for Volterra integral equations

The concept of (A ₀,S)-stability, for numerical methods approximating solutions of Volterra integral equations, is formally defined. New stability polynomials for the recent multi-lag type methods are obtained. (A ₀, 1)-stability of these and other methods employing reducible quadrature rules are also investigated.     

A criterion forP-stability properties of Runge-Kutta methods

P-stability is an analogous stability property toA-stability with respect to delay differential equations. It is defined by using a scalar test equation similar to the usual test equation ofA-stability. EveryP-stable method isA-stable, but anA-stable method is not necessarilyP-stable. We considerP-stability of Runge-Kutta (RK) methods and its variation which was originally introduced for multistep methods by Bickart, and derive a sufficient condition for an RK method to have the stability properties on the basis of an algebraic characterization ofA-stable RK methods recently obtained by Schere and Müller. By making use of the condition we clarify stability properties of some SIRK and SDIRK methods, which are easier to implement than fully implicit methods, applied to delay differential equations.     

Unconditionally stable methods for second order differential equations

We use the concept of order stars (see [1]) to prove and generalize a recent result of Dahlquist [2] on unconditionally stable linear multistep methods for second order differential equations. Furthermore a result of Lambert-Watson [3] is generalized to the multistage case. Finally we present unconditionally stable Nyström methods of order 2s (s=1,2, ...) and an unconditionally stable modification of Numerov's method. The starting point of this paper was a discussion with G. Wanner and S.P. Nørsett. The author is very grateful to them.     

A 0-Stability and stiff stability of Brown's multistep multiderivative methods

Summary Brown [1] introducedk-step methods usingl derivatives. Necessary and sufficient conditions forA ₀-stability and stiff stability of these methods are given. These conditions are used to investigate for whichk andl the methods areA ₀-stable. It is seen that for allk andl withk1.5 (l+1) the methods areA ₀-stable and stiffly stable. This result is conservative and can be improved forl sufficiently large. For smallk andl A ₀-stability has been determined numerically by implementing the necessary and sufficient condition.     

Delay-dependent stability of high order Runge–Kutta methods

This paper is concerned with the study of the delay-dependent stability of Runge–Kutta methods for delay differential equations. First, a new sufficient and necessary condition is given for the asymptotic stability of analytical solution. Then, based on this condition, we establish a relationship between τ(0)-stability and the boundary locus of the stability region of numerical methods for ordinary differential equations. Consequently, a class of high order Runge–Kutta methods are proved to be τ(0)-stable. In particular, the τ(0)-stability of the Radau IIA methods is proved.     

Stability of Numerical Methods for Ordinary Differential Equations

Variable stepsize stability results are found for three representative multivalue methods. For the second order BDF method, a best possible result is found for a maximum stepsize ratio that will still guarantee A(0)-stability behaviour. It is found that under this same restriction, A()-stability holds for 70°. For a new two stage two value first order method, which is L-stable for constant stepsize, A(0)-stability is maintained for stepsize ratios as high as aproximately 2.94. For the third order BDF method, a best possible result of (1/2)(1+ ) is found for a ratio bound that will still guarantee zero-stability.     

Continuous two-step Runge–Kutta methods for ordinary differential equations

New classes of continuous two-step Runge-Kutta methods for the numerical solution of ordinary differential equations are derived. These methods are developed imposing some interpolation and collocation conditions, in order to obtain desirable stability properties such as A-stability and L-stability. Particular structures of the stability polynomial are also investigated.     

Stability of the Radau IA and Lobatto IIIC methods for delay differential equations

Recently, we have proved that the Radau IA and Lobatto IIIC methods are P-stable, i.e., they have an analogous stability property to A-stability with respect to scalar delay differential equations (DDEs). In this paper, we study stability of those methods applied to multidimensional DDEs. We show that they have a similar property to P-stability with respect to multidimensional equations which satisfy certain conditions for asymptotic stability of the zero solutions. The conditions are closely related to stability criteria for DDEs considered in systems theory. Received October 8, 1996 / Revised version received February 21, 1997     

Constructive characterization ofA-stable approximations to exp(z) and its connection with algebraically stable Runge-Kutta methods

Summary All rational approximations to exp(z) of order 2m– (m denotes the maximal degree of nominator and denominator) are given by a closed formula involving real parameters. Using the theory of order stars [9], necessary and sufficient conditions forA-stability (respectivelyI-stability) are given. On the basis of this characterization relations between the concepts ofA-stability and algebraic stability (for implicit Runge-Kutta methods) are investigated. In particular we can partly prove the conjecture that to any irreducibleA-stableR(z) of oderp0 there exist algebraically stable Runge-Kutta methods of the same order withR(z) as stability function.     

A Class of Multiderivative Hybrid One-step Methods

This paper presents a class of hybrid one-step methods that are obtained by using Cramer's rule and rational approximations to function exp(q). The algorithms fall into the catalogue of implicit formula, which involves sth order derivative and s 1 free parameters. The order of the algorithms satisfies s 1≤p≤2s 2. The stability of the methods is also studied, necessary and sufficient conditions for A-stability and L-stability are given. In addition, some examples are also given to demonstrate the method presented.     

A necessary condition forBSI-stability

This paper gives a negative result onBSI-stability for the Lobatto IIIC-methods with more than two stages. We also give a necessary condition forBSI-stability.     

A note onB-stability of Runge-Kutta methods

Summary Burrage and Butcher [1, 2] and Crouzeix [4] introduced for Runge-Kutta methods the concepts ofB-stability,BN-stability and algebraic stability. In this paper we prove that for any irreducible Runge-Kutta method these three stability concepts are equivalent.Chapters 1–3 of this article have been written by the second author, whereas chapter 4 has been written by the first author     

B-Theory of Runge-Kutta methods for stiff volterra functional differential equations

B-stability andB-convergence theories of Runge-Kutta methods for nonlinear stiff Volterra functional differential equations (VFDEs) are established which provide unified theoretical foundation for the study of Runge-Kutta methods when applied to nonlinear stiff initial value problems (IVPs) in ordinary differential equations (ODEs), delay differential equations (DDEs), integro-differential equations (IDEs) and VFDEs of other type which appear in practice.     

On the D-stability and additive D-stability of matrices and Svicobians

We improve the available necessary conditions and sufficient conditions for the Dstability and additive D-stability of matrices. We define these dynamical properties with respect to a finite parallelepiped and propose an algorithm for checking them. For a particular class of matrices called Svicobians, we obtain some constructive necessary and sufficient conditions for Dstabilizability, D-stability, and additive D-stability.     

Extension of Turán's Theorem to the 2-Stability Number

 Given a graph G with n vertices and stability number α(G), Turán's Theorem gives a lower bound on the number of edges in G. Furthermore, Turán has proved that the lower bound is only attained if G is the union of α(G) disjoint balanced cliques. We prove a similar result for the 2-stability number α₂(G) of G, which is defined as the largest number of vertices in a 2-colorable subgraph of G. Given a graph G with n vertices and 2-stability number α₂(G), we give a lower bound on the number of edges in G and characterize the graphs for which this bound is attained. These graphs are the union of isolated vertices and disjoint balanced cliques. We then derive lower bounds on the 2-stability number, and finally discuss the extension of Turán's Theorem to the q-stability number, for q>2. Received: July 21, 1999 Final version received: August 22, 2000 Present address: GERAD, 3000 ch. de la Cote-Ste-Catherine, Montreal, Quebec H3T 2A7, Canada. e-mail: Alain.Hertz@gerad.ca