Finite Element Analysis of Maxwell's Equations with Time-Varying Coefficients and Nonlinear E-H Coupling: Convergence and Exponential Decay

Abstract

This paper analyzes finite element approximations for Maxwell's equations with time-dependent coefficients and nonlinear E-H coupling in both the total current density and the Silver-M\"uller-type boundary condition. The nonlinear coupling and the time-varying material parameters prevent the use of standard analytical tools, including the discrete compactness property and the Minty-Browder argument, making the numerical analysis particularly challenging. As the main novelty, we establish two primary contributions: Uniform convergence on every finite time interval $[0,T]$ and exponential stability on the infinite time horizon $[0,\infty)$. The uniform convergence is established via a Cauchy-type argument within a time-dependent Hilbert space framework that entirely bypasses Minty's trick and the discrete compactness argument. Furthermore, under a positive homogeneity assumption on the nonlinearities, the exponential stability is analyzed by means of a nonlinear sup-max problem arising from ratios of consecutive discrete energies. With this strategy, we ultimately prove a fully discrete unconditional exponential decay result under a specific sufficient condition. In the absence of this condition, a concrete counterexample shows that the energy decay fails to hold. Numerical experiments are provided to validate the theoretical findings.