Some p-robust a posteriori error estimates based on auxiliary spaces

Abstract

This work develops polynomial-degree-robust (p-robust) equilibrated a posteriori error estimates for $H(\mathrm{curl})$, $H(\mathrm{div})$ and $H(\mathrm{divdiv})$ problems, based on $H^1$ auxiliary space decomposition. The proposed framework employs auxiliary space preconditioning and regular decompositions to decompose the finite element residual into $H^{-1}$ residuals that are further controlled by classical p-robust equilibrated a posteriori error analysis. As a result, we obtain novel and simple p-robust a posteriori error estimates of $H(\mathrm{curl})$/$H(\mathrm{div})$ conforming methods and mixed methods for the biharmonic equation. In addition, we prove guaranteed a posteriori upper error bounds under convex domains or certain boundary conditions. Numerical experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and p-robustness of the proposed error estimators for the Nédélec edge element methods and the Hellan--Herrmann--Johnson methods.