A Family of Three-Dimensional Virtual Elements with Applications to Magnetostatics

We consider, as a simple model problem, the application of virtual element methods (VEMs) to the linear magnetostatic three-dimensional problem in the formulation of Kikuchi. In doing so, we also introduce new serendipity VEM spaces, where the serendipity reduction is made only on the faces of a general polyhedral decomposition (assuming that internal degrees of freedom could be more easily eliminated by static condensation). These new spaces are meant, more generally, for the combined approximation of H¹-conforming (0-forms), $H(curl)$-conforming (1-forms), and $H(div)$-conforming (2-forms) functional spaces in three dimensions, and they could surely be useful for other problems and in more general contexts.