A posteriori error estimates for the Allen-Cahn problem

Abstract

This work is concerned with the proof of \emph{a posteriori} error estimates for fully-discrete Galerkin approximations of the Allen-Cahn equation in two and three spatial dimensions. The numerical method comprises of the backward Euler method combined with conforming finite elements in space. For this method, we prove conditional type \emph{a posteriori} error estimates in the $L^{}_4(0,T;L^{}_4(\Omega))$-norm that depend polynomially upon the inverse of the interface length $\epsilon$. The derivation relies crucially on the availability of a spectral estimate for the linearized Allen-Cahn operator about the approximating solution in conjunction with a continuation argument and a variant of the elliptic reconstruction. The new analysis also appears to improve variants of known \emph{a posteriori} error bounds in $L_2(H^1)$, $L_\infty^{}(L_2^{})$-norms in certain regimes.