Harmonic potentials in the de Rham complex

Abstract: Representing vector fields by scalar or vector potentials can be a challenging task in domains with cavities or tunnels, due to the presence of harmonic fields which are both irrotational and solenoidal but may have no scalar or vector potentials. For harmonic fields normal to the boundary, which can exist in domains with cavities, it is possible to define scalar potentials with Dirichlet boundary conditions fitted to the domain's cavities. For harmonic fields tangent to the boundary, which can exist in domains with tunnels, a similar construction was lacking. In this article we present a construction of vector potentials that yield a basis for the tangent harmonic fields. Our vector potentials are obtained by solving curl-curl problems with inhomogeneous tangent boundary conditions that are fitted to closed curves looping around the tunnels. Applied to structure-preserving finite elements, our method also provides an exact geometric parametrization of the discrete harmonic fields.