Numerical analysis of linear finite element methods for the Gross–Pitaevskii eigenvalue problem

In this paper, we analyze the standard and the mass-lumped linear finite element methods for the Gross–Pitaevskii eigenvalue problem. For the standard method, we give a new proof of the uniqueness of the discrete ground state up to sign for sufficiently small mesh sizes, which only requires the $H^1$-convergence of the discrete ground states. For both methods, we establish optimal convergence rates in the $L^p$- and $W^{1,p}$-norms for $1 \le p < \infty$. Under additional regularity assumptions on the potential, we further obtain an optimal convergence rate in the $W^{1,\infty}$-norm and an almost optimal convergence rate, up to a logarithmic factor, in the $L^\infty$-norm. Moreover, we prove that the discrete ground states superconverge to the Ritz projection of the exact ground state in the $W^{1,p}$-seminorm. The analysis is based on a perturbation argument. Numerical experiments confirm the theoretical results.