Gaussian quadrature for $C^1$ cubic Clough-Tocher macro-triangles
Abstract
A numerical integration rule for multivariate cubic polynomials over n-dimensional simplices was designed
by Hammer and Stroud [14]. The quadrature rule requires n + 2 quadrature points: the barycentre of the
simplex and n + 1 points that lie on the connecting lines between the barycentre and the vertices of the
simplex. In the planar case, this particular rule belongs to a two-parameter family of quadrature rules that
admit exact integration of bivariate polynomials of total degree three over triangles. We prove that this rule
is exact for a larger space, namely the C1 cubic Clough-Tocher spline space over macro-triangles if and only
if the split-point is the barycentre. This results into a factor of three reduction in the number of quadrature
points needed to integrate the Clough-Tocher spline space exactly.