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Abstract. Symmetry preserving difference schemes approximating second and third order ordinary differential equations are presented. They have the same three or four-dimensional symmetry groups as the original differential equations. The new difference schemes are tested as numerical methods. The obtained numerical solutions are shown to be much more accurate than those obtained by standard methods without an increase in cost. For an example involving a solution with a singularity in the integration region the symmetry preserving scheme, contrary to standard ones, provides solutions valid beyond the singular point.

The single-point probability distribution function ͑PDF͒ for a passive scalar with an imposed mean gradient is studied here. Elementary models are introduced involving advection diffusion of a passive scalar by a velocity field consisting of a deterministic or random shear flow with a transverse time-periodic transverse sweep. Despite the simplicity of these models, the PDFs exhibit scalar intermittency, i.e., a transition from a Gaussian PDF to a broader than Gaussian PDF with large variance as the Péclet number increases with a universal self-similar shape that is determined analytically by explicit formulas. The intermittent PDFs resemble those that have been found recently in numerical simulations of much more complex models. The examples presented here unambiguously demonstrate that neither velocity fields inducing chaotic particle trajectories with positive Lyapunov exponents nor strongly turbulent velocity fields are needed to produce scalar intermittency with an imposed mean gradient. The passive scalar PDFs in these models are given through exact solutions that are processed in a transparent fashion via elementary stationary phase asymptotics and numerical quadrature of one-dimensional formulas.