A third order numerical scheme for the two-dimensional sine-Gordon equation

A rational approximant of third order, which is applied to a three-time level recurrence relation, is used to transform the two-dimensional sine-Gordon (SG) equation into a second-order initial-value problem. The resulting nonlinear finite-difference scheme, which is analyzed for stability, is solved by an appropriate predictor-corrector (P-C) scheme, in which the predictor is an explicit one of second order. This scheme is accelerated by using a modification (MPC) in which the already evaluated values are used for the corrector. The behavior of the proposed P-C/MPC schemes is tested numerically on the line and ring solitons known from the bibliography, regarding SG equation and conclusions for both the mentioned schemes regarding the undamped and the damped problem are derived. (c) 2006 IMACS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.