Surface Eigenvalues with Lattice-Based Approximation In comparison with analytical solution

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a meshless method of computing eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of a given surface embedded in $\mathbb R^3$. We use point cloud data as input and generate the lattice approximation for some neighborhood of the surface. We compute the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the cubic lattice graph as an approximation of the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the Laplace-Beltrami operator on the surface. We perform extensive numerical experiments on surfaces with various topology and compare our computed eigenvalues from point cloud surface with exact solutions and standard finite element methods using triangle mesh.