Order barrier for low-storage DIRK methods with positive weights

Abstract

In this paper we study an order barrier for low-storage diagonally implicit Runge-Kutta (DIRK) methods with positive weights. The Butcher matrix for these schemes, that can be implemented with only two memory registers in the van der Houwen implementation, has a special structure that restricts the number of free parameters of the method. We prove that third order low-storage DIRK methods must contain negative weights, obtaining the order barrier p ≤ 2 for these schemes. This result extends the well known one for symplectic DIRK methods, which are a particular case of low-storage DIRK methods. Some other properties of second order low-storage DIRK methods are given.