The diffusion equation for $u(x, t)$ :

$$\frac{\partial u}{\partial t}=\frac{\partial^{2} u}{\partial x^{2}}, \quad x \in \mathbb{R}, \quad t \geqslant 0$$

is solved numerically by the difference scheme

$$u_{m}^{n+1}=u_{m}^{n}+\frac{3}{2} \mu\left(u_{m-1}^{n}-2 u_{m}^{n}+u_{m+1}^{n}\right)-\frac{1}{2} \mu\left(u_{m-1}^{n-1}-2 u_{m}^{n-1}+u_{m+1}^{n-1}\right) .$$

Here $\mu=\frac{k}{h^{2}}$ is the Courant number, with $k=\Delta t, h=\Delta x$, and $u_{m}^{n} \approx u(m h, n k)$.

(a) Prove that, as $k \rightarrow 0$ with constant $\mu$, the local error of the method is $\mathcal{O}\left(k^{2}\right)$.

(b) Applying the Fourier stability analysis, show that the method is stable if and only if $\mu \leqslant \frac{1}{4}$. [Hint: If a polynomial $p(x)=x^{2}-2 \alpha x+\beta$ has real roots, then those roots lie in $[a, b]$ if and only if $p(a) p(b) \geqslant 0$ and $\alpha \in[a, b]$.]

(c) Prove that, for the same equation, the leapfrog scheme

$$u_{m}^{n+1}=u_{m}^{n-1}+2 \mu\left(u_{m-1}^{n}-2 u_{m}^{n}+u_{m+1}^{n}\right)$$

is unstable for any choice of $\mu>0$.