Combinatorial problems in solving linear systems

42 pages, available as LIP research report RR-2009-15Numerical linear algebra and combinatorial optimization are vast subjects; as is their interaction. In virtually all cases there should be a notion of sparsity for a combinatorial problem to arise. Sparse matrices therefore form the basis of the interaction of these two seemingly disparate subjects. As the core of many of today's numerical linear algebra computations consists of the solution of sparse linear system by direct or iterative methods, we survey some combinatorial problems, ideas, and algorithms relating to these computations. On the direct methods side, we discuss issues such as matrix ordering; bipartite matching and matrix scaling for better pivoting; task assignment and scheduling for parallel multifrontal solvers. On the iterative method side, we discuss preconditioning techniques including incomplete factorization preconditioners, support graph preconditioners, and algebraic multigrid. In a separate part, we discuss the block triangular form of sparse matrices

Performance Improvements of Common Sparse Numerical Linear Algebra Computations

Manufacturers of computer hardware are able to continuously sustain an unprecedented pace of progress in computing speed of their products, partially due to increased clock rates but also because of ever more complicated chip designs. With new processor families appearing every few years, it is increasingly harder to achieve high performance rates in sparse matrix computations. This research proposes new methods for sparse matrix factorizations and applies in an iterative code generalizations of known concepts from related disciplines. The proposed solutions and extensions are implemented in ways that tend to deliver efficiency while retaining ease of use of existing solutions. The implementations are thoroughly timed and analyzed using a commonly accepted set of test matrices. The tests were conducted on modern processors that seem to have gained an appreciable level of popularity and are fairly representative for a wider range of processor types that are available on the market now or in the near future. The new factorization technique formally introduced in the early chapters is later on proven to be quite competitive with state of the art software currently available. Although not totally superior in all cases (as probably no single approach could possibly be), the new factorization algorithm exhibits a few promising features. In addition, an all-embracing optimization effort is applied to an iterative algorithm that stands out for its robustness. This also gives satisfactory results on the tested computing platforms in terms of performance improvement. The same set of test matrices is used to enable an easy comparison between both investigated techniques, even though they are customarily treated separately in the literature. Possible extensions of the presented work are discussed. They range from easily conceivable merging with existing solutions to rather more evolved schemes dependent on hard to predict progress in theoretical and algorithmic research

Solution of partial differential equations on vector and parallel computers

The present status of numerical methods for partial differential equations on vector and parallel computers was reviewed. The relevant aspects of these computers are discussed and a brief review of their development is included, with particular attention paid to those characteristics that influence algorithm selection. Both direct and iterative methods are given for elliptic equations as well as explicit and implicit methods for initial boundary value problems. The intent is to point out attractive methods as well as areas where this class of computer architecture cannot be fully utilized because of either hardware restrictions or the lack of adequate algorithms. Application areas utilizing these computers are briefly discussed

Hypergraph-based Unsymmetric Nested Dissection Ordering for Sparse LU Factorization

In this paper we present HUND, a hypergraph-based unsymmetric nested dissection ordering algorithm for reducing the fill-in incurred during Gaussian elimination. HUND has several important properties. It takes a global perspective of the entire matrix, as opposed to local heuristics. It takes into account the assymetry of the input matrix by using a hypergraph to represent its structure. It is suitable for performing Gaussian elimination in parallel, with partial pivoting. This is possible because the row permutations performed due to partial pivoting do not destroy the column separators identified by the nested dissection approach. Experimental results on 27 medium and large size highly unsymmetric matrices compare HUND to four other well-known reordering algorithms. The results show that HUND provides a robust reordering algorithm, in the sense that it is the best or close to the best (often within $10\%$) of all the other methods

A Direct Elliptic Solver Based on Hierarchically Low-rank Schur Complements

A parallel fast direct solver for rank-compressible block tridiagonal linear systems is presented. Algorithmic synergies between Cyclic Reduction and Hierarchical matrix arithmetic operations result in a solver with $O(N \log^2 N)$ arithmetic complexity and $O(N \log N)$ memory footprint. We provide a baseline for performance and applicability by comparing with well known implementations of the $\mathcal{H}$-LU factorization and algebraic multigrid with a parallel implementation that leverages the concurrency features of the method. Numerical experiments reveal that this method is comparable with other fast direct solvers based on Hierarchical Matrices such as $\mathcal{H}$-LU and that it can tackle problems where algebraic multigrid fails to converge

On the ordering of sparse linear systems

AbstractIn this paper we consider the algorithms for transforming an n × n sparse matrix A into another matrix B such that Gaussian elimination applied to B takes time asymptotically less than n3. These algorithms take the sparse matrix A as input, and return a pair of permutation matrices P, Q such that B = PAQ has a small bandwidth, or some other desirable form. We study the average effectiveness of these algorithms by using random matrices with Θ(n) nonzero elements. We prove that with high probability these algorithms cannot produce a reduction of the asymptotic cost of the standard Gaussian elimination algorithm.We also study the effectiveness of these algorithms for ordering very sparse matrices. We show that there exist matrices with 3n nonzeros for which reordering rows and columns does not reduce the asymptotic cost of Gaussian elimination. We also prove that each matrix with at most two nonzeros in each row and in each column, can be transformed into a banded matrix with bandwidth five