Galerkin approximation for elliptic PDEs on spheres

We discuss a Galerkin approximation scheme for the elliptic partial differential equation -Δu+ω²u=f on SⁿRⁿ⁺¹. Here Δ is the Laplace–Beltrami operator on Sⁿ, ω is a non-zero constant and f belongs to C^2k-2(Sⁿ), where kn/4+1, k is an integer. The shifts of a spherical basis function φ with φH^τ(Sⁿ) and τ>2kn/2+2 are used to construct an approximate solution. An H¹(Sⁿ)-error estimate is derived under the assumption that the exact solution u belongs to C^2k(Sⁿ).