A penalty-free bulk--surface CutFEM stabilized by lattice Green's function extensions

Abstract

We introduce a penalty-free cut finite element method for surface elliptic problems coupled to a harmonic bulk field on a Cartesian grid. Instead of adding a stabilization term, the method restricts the active finite element space by a discrete bulk harmonic extension represented with the lattice Green's function, together with a local extrapolation near the interface. The resulting method is a symmetric Galerkin scheme posed on a reduced space embedded in the standard active-mesh finite element space. Under stated geometric, regularity, and approximation assumptions, we establish optimal $\mathcal{O}(h)$ and $\mathcal{O}(h^2)$ surface convergence rates, as well as robust, cut-independent algebraic conditioning. Furthermore, a density formulation based on lattice layer potentials is shown to act as an operator preconditioner; the single-layer parametrization yields an $\mathcal{O}(1)$ algebraically well-conditioned system without introducing any tunable parameters. Two-dimensional experiments on circular, deformed, and smooth nonconvex interfaces confirm the predicted convergence and robustness under changes in the cut position. Finally, a three-dimensional torus experiment demonstrates the identical construction using a seven-point bulk stencil and trilinear surface traces, exhibiting the expected optimal error rates.