Solutions of Painlevé II on real intervals: novel approximating sequences

Novel sequences of approximants to solutions of Painlevé II on finite intervals of the real line, with Neumann boundary conditions, are constructed. Numerical experiments strongly suggest convergence of these sequences in a surprisingly wide range of cases, even ones where ordinary perturbation series fail to converge. These sequences are here labeled extraordinary because of their unusual properties. Each element of such a sequence is defined on its own interval. As the sequence (apparently) converges to a solution of the corresponding boundary value problem for Painlevé II, these intervals themselves (apparently) converge to the defining interval for that problem, and an associated sequence of constants (apparently) converges to the constant term in the Painlevé II equation itself. Each extraordinary sequence is constructed in a nonlinear fashion from a perturbation series approximation to the solution of a supplementary boundary value problem, involving a generalization of Painlevé II that arises in studies of electrodiffusion.