Two preconditioners based on the multi-level splitting of finite element spaces (Q920609)

The hierarchical preconditioner of the author [Numer. Math. 49, 379--412 (1986; Zbl 0608.65065)] and a preconditioner of \textit{J. H. Bramble}, \textit{J. E. Pasciak} and \textit{J. Xu} (B-P-X) [\textit{J. H. Bramble} et al., Math. Comput. 55, No. 191, 1--22 (1990; Zbl 0703.65076)] are investigated from a common point of view. Much attention is paid to non-uniformly refined triangulations, and to coefficients of the considered elliptic differential equation which have jumps across the boundaries of triangles of the starting level. According to the estimates obtained here, the author's preconditioner is not influenced by such jumps (whereas the B-P-X preconditioner is); the latter preconditioner however -- as opposed to the first one -- is usable in 3 dimensions, too. For a certain choice of orthogonal operators occurring in the B-P-X preconditioner, a direct connection to the B-P-X preconditioner is established.