Instance optimality for the maximum strategy

We study the adaptive finite element approximation of the Dirichlet problem $-\Delta u = f$ with zero boundary values using newest vertex bisection. Our approach is based on the minimization of the corresponding Dirichlet energy. We show that the maximums strategy attains every energy level with a number of degrees of freedom, which is proportional to the optimal number. As a consequence we achieve instance optimality of the error. This is a joint work with Christian Kreuzer (Bochum) and Rob Stevenson (Amsterdam).