Two arbitrary-order constraint-preserving schemes for the Yang–Mills equations on polyhedral meshes

Two numerical schemes are proposed and investigated for the Yang–Mills equations, which can be seen as a nonlinear generalisation of the Maxwell equations set on Lie algebra-valued functions, with similarities to certain formulations of General Relativity. Both schemes are built on the Discrete de Rham (DDR) method, and inherit from its main features: an arbitrary order of accuracy, and applicability to generic polyhedral meshes. They make use of the complex property of the DDR, together with a Lagrange-multiplier approach, to preserve, at the discrete level, a nonlinear constraint associated with the Yang–Mills equations. We also show that the schemes satisfy a discrete energy dissipation (the dissipation coming solely from the implicit time stepping). Issues around the practical implementations of the schemes are discussed; in particular, the assembly of the local contributions in a way that minimises the price we pay in dealing with nonlinear terms, in conjunction with the tensorisation coming from the Lie algebra. Numerical tests are provided using a manufactured solution, and show that both schemes display a convergence in $L^2$-norm of the potential and electrical fields in $\mathcal{O}(h^{k+1})$ (provided that the time step is of that order), where $k$ is the polynomial degree chosen for the DDR complex. We also numerically demonstrate the preservation of the constraint.