Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 September 2005
This article discusses the numerical approximation oftime dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations. Optimal error estimates which are robust with respectto a large Ginzburg-Landau parameter are established for asemi-discrete in time and a fully discrete approximationscheme. The proofs rely on an asymptotic expansion of the exact solution and a stability resultfor degree-one Ginzburg-Landau vortices. The error boundsprove that degree-one vortices can be approximated robustlywhile unstable higher degree vortices are critical.