Abstract robust coarse spaces for systems of PDEs via generalized eigenproblems in the overlaps

Coarse spaces are instrumental in obtaining scalability for domain decomposition methods for partial differential equations (PDEs). However, it is known that most popular choices of coarse spaces perform rather weakly in the presence of heterogeneities in the PDE coefficients, especially for systems of PDEs. Here, we introduce in a variational setting a new coarse space that is robust even when there are such heterogeneities. We achieve this by solving local generalized eigenvalue problems in the overlaps of subdomains that isolate the terms responsible for slow convergence. We prove a general theoretical result that rigorously establishes the robustness of the new coarse space and give some numerical examples on two and three dimensional heterogeneous PDEs and systems of PDEs that confirm this property

Optimized Schwarz Methods for Maxwell equations

Over the last two decades, classical Schwarz methods have been extended to systems of hyperbolic partial differential equations, and it was observed that the classical Schwarz method can be convergent even without overlap in certain cases. This is in strong contrast to the behavior of classical Schwarz methods applied to elliptic problems, for which overlap is essential for convergence. Over the last decade, optimized Schwarz methods have been developed for elliptic partial differential equations. These methods use more effective transmission conditions between subdomains, and are also convergent without overlap for elliptic problems. We show here why the classical Schwarz method applied to the hyperbolic problem converges without overlap for Maxwell's equations. The reason is that the method is equivalent to a simple optimized Schwarz method for an equivalent elliptic problem. Using this link, we show how to develop more efficient Schwarz methods than the classical ones for the Maxwell's equations. We illustrate our findings with numerical results

Space Decompositions and Solvers for Discontinuous Galerkin Methods

We present a brief overview of the different domain and space decomposition techniques that enter in developing and analyzing solvers for discontinuous Galerkin methods. Emphasis is given to the novel and distinct features that arise when considering DG discretizations over conforming methods. Connections and differences with the conforming approaches are emphasized.Comment: 2 pages 2 figures no table

A multidomain spectral method for solving elliptic equations

We present a new solver for coupled nonlinear elliptic partial differential equations (PDEs). The solver is based on pseudo-spectral collocation with domain decomposition and can handle one- to three-dimensional problems. It has three distinct features. First, the combined problem of solving the PDE, satisfying the boundary conditions, and matching between different subdomains is cast into one set of equations readily accessible to standard linear and nonlinear solvers. Second, touching as well as overlapping subdomains are supported; both rectangular blocks with Chebyshev basis functions as well as spherical shells with an expansion in spherical harmonics are implemented. Third, the code is very flexible: The domain decomposition as well as the distribution of collocation points in each domain can be chosen at run time, and the solver is easily adaptable to new PDEs. The code has been used to solve the equations of the initial value problem of general relativity and should be useful in many other problems. We compare the new method to finite difference codes and find it superior in both runtime and accuracy, at least for the smooth problems considered here.Comment: 31 pages, 8 figure