Finite element approximation of unique continuation of functions with finite dimensional trace

Abstract: We consider a unique continuation problem where the Dirichlet trace of the solution is known to have finite dimension. We prove Lipschitz stability of the unique continuation problem and design a finite element method that exploits the finite dimensionality to enhance stability. Optimal a priori and a posteriori error estimates are shown for the method. The extension to problems where the trace is not in a finite dimensional space, but can be approximated to high accuracy using finite dimensional functions is discussed. Finally, the theory is illustrated in some numerical examples.