Star-Based a Posteriori Error Estimates for Elliptic Problems

We give an a posteriori error estimator for low order nonconforming finite element approximations of diffusion-reaction and Stokes problems, which relies on the solution of local problems on stars. It is proved to be equivalent to the energy error up to a data oscillation, without requiring Helmholtz decomposition of the error nor saturation assumption. Numerical experiments illustrate the good behavior and efficiency of this estimator for generic elliptic problems.