Quadrature error estimates for layer potentials evaluated near curved surfaces in three dimensions

The quadrature error associated with a regular quadrature rule for evaluation of a layer potential increases rapidly when the evaluation point approaches the surface and the integral becomes nearly singular. Error estimates are needed to determine when the accuracy is insufficient and a more costly special quadrature method should be utilized. The final result of this paper are such quadrature error estimates for the composite Gauss-Legendre rule and the global trapezoidal rule, when applied to evaluate layer potentials defined over smooth curved surfaces in R3. The estimates have no unknown coefficients and can be efficiently evaluated given the discretization of the surface, invoking a local one-dimensional root-finding procedure. They are derived starting with integrals over curves, using complex analysis involving contour integrals, residue calculus and branch cuts. By complexifying the parameter plane, the theory can be used to derive estimates also for curves in R3. These results are then used in the derivation of the estimates for integrals over surfaces. In this procedure, we also obtain error estimates for layer potentials evaluated over curves in R2. Such estimates combined with a local root-finding procedure for their evaluation were earlier derived for the composite Gauss-Legendre rule for layer potentials written in complex form [4]. This is here extended to provide quadrature error estimates for both complex and real formulations of layer potentials, both for the Gauss-Legendre and the trapezoidal rule. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the performance of the quadrature error estimates. The estimates for integration over curves are in many cases remarkably precise, and the estimates for curved surfaces in R3 are also sufficiently precise, with sufficiently low computational cost, to be practically useful.