Extended Walk-on-Spheres Algorithm for Linear and Nonlinear Elliptic Problems of Divergence-type

Abstract

The Walk-on-Spheres algorithm, introduced by M. E. Muller in 1956, is a well known Monte Carlo method that leverages Brownian exit distributions from spheres to solve the Laplace equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions. Its mesh-free nature, robustness on complex geometries, favorable scaling with dimension, and intrinsic parallelism distinguish it from mesh-based solvers. However, its efficient applicability has been essentially limited to operators that admit explicit probabilistic exit laws, excluding most variable-coefficient and nonlinear elliptic operators. We propose a general framework that aims to overcome this limitation by using the classical Dirichlet Laplacian and harmonic extension as universal building blocks. Rather than seeking a custom stochastic representation for each operator, we employ Walk-on-Spheres to precompute a reusable numerical operator toolbox that approximates the inverse Dirichlet Laplacian, the harmonic extension operator, and their gradients. These precomputed operators are then used to represent candidate solutions and to transform arbitrary Dirichlet boundary value problems into a finite-dimensional algebraic system/optimization problem for an unknown source term. Solving the resulting algebraic system/optimization problem and substituting back yields an approximate solution to the original PDE. Even more, for a general linear second order elliptic operator, the above mentioned precomputed toolbox can be directly used to obtain not just an approximation of a certain solution of the corresponding generalized Dirichlet problem, but an estimator of both the Green's integral operator and the elliptic measure operator. Numerical experiments on a range of benchmarks, including non-symmetric and anisotropic linear elliptic equations, semilinear and quasilinear problems, demonstrate the method's flexibility and efficiency.