An approximation algorithm for the solution of the nonlinear Lane-Emden type equations arising in astrophysics using Hermite functions collocation method

In this paper we propose a collocation method for solving some well-known classes of Lane-Emden type equations which are nonlinear ordinary differential equations on the semi-infinite domain They are categorized as singular initial value problems The proposed approach is based on a Herniae function collocation (HFC) method To illustrate the reliability of the method, some special cases of the equations are solved as test examples The new method reduces the solution of a problem to the solution of a system of algebraic equations Hermite functions have prefect properties that make them useful to achieve this goal. We compare the present work with some well-known results and show that the new method is efficient and applicable COD (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved