Error estimates for interpolation by compactly supported radial basis functions of minimal degree

We consider error estimates for interpolation by a special class of compactly supported radial basis functions. These functions consist of a univariate polynomial within their support and are of minimal degree depending on space dimension and smoothness. Their associated "native" Hilbert spaces are shown to be norm-equivalent to Sobolev spaces. Thus we can derive approximation orders for functions from Sobolev spaces which are comparable to those of thin-plate-spline interpolation. Finally, we investigate the numerical stability of the interpolation process. (C) 1998 Academic Press.