Auxiliary space preconditioning in \(H_0(\text{curl};\Omega)\) (Q2494377)

The authors propose and analyze an auxiliary space preconditioner for \(H_0(\text{curl};\Omega)\) -- elliptic boundary value problems discretized by means of lowest order edge elements. The focus is on a theoretical analysis within the abstract framework of subspace correction. Main result: The theory confirms asymptotic quasi-optimality and numerical experiments demonstrate the viability of the approach. The results can be extended to the \(h\)-version of edge elements of arbitrary but fixed polynomial degree. All investigation is focused on the case of constant coefficients (mildly varying coefficients can be absorbed into the constants). By the Helmholtz-type splitting of edge element vector fields, asymptotic \(h\)-uniform optimality of the preconditioner, defined by the authors' auxiliary space method, is established.