A Third Order Accurate in Time,BDF-Type Energy Stable Scheme for the Cahn-Hilliard Equation

In this paper we propose and analyze a backward differentiation formula(BDF)type numerical scheme for the Cahn-Hilliard equation with third order temporal accuracy.The Fourier pseudo-spectral method is used to discretize space.The surface diffusion and the nonlinear chemical potential terms are treated implicitly,while the expansive term is approximated by a third order explicit extrapolation formula for the sake of solvability.In addition,a third order accurate Douglas-Dupont regularization term,in the form of−A_(0)△t^(2)△_( N)(φ^(n+1)−φ^(n)),is added in the numerical scheme.In particular,the energy stability is carefully derived in a modified version,so that a uniform bound for the original energy functional is available,and a theoretical justification of the coefficient A becomes available.As a result of this energy stability analysis,a uniform-in-time L_(N)^(6)bound of the numerical solution is obtained.And also,the optimal rate convergence analysis and error estimate are provided,in the L_(△t)^(∞)(0,T;L_(N)^(2))∩L^(2)_(△ t)(0,T;H_(h)^(2))norm,with the help of the L_(N)^(6)bound for the numerical solution.A few numerical simulation results are presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the numerical scheme and the third order convergence.