Discrete maximal regularity and the finite element method for parabolic equations

Abstract: Maximal regularity is a fundamental concept in the theory of partial differential equations. In this paper, we establish a fully discrete version of maximal regularity for a parabolic equation. We derive various stability results in $L^p(0,T;L^q(\Omega))$ norm, $p,q\in (1,\infty)$ for the finite element approximation with the mass-lumping to the linear heat equation. Our method of analysis is an operator theoretical one using pure imaginary powers of operators and might be a discrete version of G.~Dore and A.~Venni (On the closedness of the sum of two closed operators. \emph{Math.\ Z.}, 196(2):189--201, 1987). As an application, optimal order error estimates in that norm are proved. Furthermore, we study the finite element approximation for semilinear heat equations with locally Lipschitz continuous nonlinearity and offer a new method for deriving optimal order error estimates. Some interesting auxiliary results including discrete Gagliardo-Nirenberg and Sobolev inequalities are also presented.