On algebraic multilevel preconditioning methods (Q2563394)

This is a survey of some results on the AMLI (algebraic multilevel iterations) method which is very effective for the solution of linear systems arising from finite element or finite difference discretizations. The paper presents an algebraic approach to the construction and the analysis of AMLI preconditioners. It is shown how to choose the polynomial degree in order to obtain a convergence rate independent of the mesh step (i.e. the dimension of the linear system), and the computational complexity of the iteration step growing linearly for smaller mesh steps. In particular, the case of V-cycles on most of the levels is discussed with higher degree polynomials for the correction steps. At the end some applications are discussed.