A New Heterogeneous Multiscale Method for Time-Harmonic Maxwell's Equations

In this paper, we suggest a new heterogeneous multiscale method (HMM) for the time-harmonic Maxwell equations in locally periodic media. The method is constructed by using a divergence-regularization in one of the cell problems. This allows us to introduce fine-scale correctors that are not subject to a cumbersome divergence-free constraint and which can hence easily be implemented. To analyze the method, we first revisit classical homogenization theory for time-harmonic Maxwell equations and derive a new homogenization result that makes use of the divergence-regularization in the two-scale homogenized equation. We then show that the HMM is equivalent to a discretization of this equation. In particular, writing both problems in a fully coupled two-scale formulation is the crucial starting point for a corresponding numerical analysis of the method. With this approach we are able to prove rigorous a priori error estimates in the $\mathbf{H}({curl})$- and the $H^{-1}$-norm, and we derive reliable and efficient localized residual-based a posteriori error estimates. Numerical experiments are presented to verify the a priori convergence results.