Convergence Analysis of a Second Order Convex Splitting Scheme for the Modified Phase Field Crystal Equation

In this paper we provide a detailed convergence analysis for an unconditionally energy stable, second order accurate convex splitting scheme for the modified phase field crystal equation, a generalized damped wave equation for which the usual phase field crystal equation is a special degenerate case. The fully discrete, fully second order finite difference scheme in question was derived in a recent work [A. Baskaran et al., J. Comput. Phys., 250 (2013), pp. 270–292]. An introduction of a new variable ψ, corresponding to the temporal derivative of the phase variable φ, could bring an accuracy reduction in the formal consistency estimate, because of the hyperbolic nature of the equation. A higher order consistency analysis by an asymptotic expansion is performed to overcome this difficulty. In turn, second order convergence in both time and space is established in a discrete L∞(0, T ;H3) norm.