A posteriori error bounds for fully-discrete hp-discontinuous Galerkin timestepping methods for parabolic problems

Abstract

We consider fully discrete time-space approximations of abstract linear parabolic partial differential equations (PDEs) consisting of an $hp$-version discontinuous Galerkin (DG) time stepping scheme in conjunction with standard (conforming) Galerkin discretizations in space. We derive abstract computable a posteriori error bounds resulting, for instance, in concrete bounds in $L_{\infty}(I;L_2(\Omega))$- and $L_{2}(I;H^{1}(\Omega))$-type norms when $I$ is the temporal and $\Omega$ the spatial domain for the PDE. We base our methodology for the analysis on a novel space-time reconstruction approach. Our approach is flexible as it works for any type of elliptic error estimator and leaves their choice of up to the user. It also allows exhibits mesh-change estimators in a clear an concise way. We also show how our approach allows the derivation of such bounds in the $H^1(I;H^{-1}(\Omega))$ norm.