Abstract: "Parallel multilevel methods are shown to be the natural precursors to standard multilevel methods based on the personnel computing era of earlier this century. They are also the natural successors to standard multilevel methods in the age of computers. What makes six parallel multilevel methods practical and impractical is discussed in the context of the three algorithms that encapsulate them."

The parallel multigrid algorithm of Frederickson and McBryan (1987) is considered. This algorithm uses multiple coarse-grid problems (instead of one problem) in the hope of accelerating convergence and is found to have a close relationship to traditional multigrid methods. Specifically, the parallel coarse-grid correction operator is identical to a traditional multigrid coarse-grid correction operator, except that the mixing of high and low frequencies caused by aliasing error is removed. Appropriate relaxation operators can be chosen to take advantage of this property. Comparisons between the standard multigrid and the new method are made. Chan, Tony F. and Tuminaro, Ray S. Unspecified Center DE-FG03-87ER-25037; DAAL03-88-K-0085; NSF DMS-87-14612; NCC2-387; NCA2-233...

Multigrid methods are among the most efficient iterative methods for the solution of linear systems which arise in many large scale scientific calculations. Every researcher working with the numerical solution of partial differential equations should at least be familiar with this powerful technique. This invaluable book presents results concerning the rates of convergence of multigrid iterations.

Matrix-Based Multigrid introduces and analyzes the multigrid approach for the numerical solution of large sparse linear systems arising from the discretization of elliptic partial differential equations. Special attention is given to the powerful matrix-based-multigrid approach, which is particularly useful for problems with variable coefficients and nonsymmetric and indefinite problems. This book can be used as a textbook in courses in numerical analysis, numerical linear algebra, and numerical PDEs at the advanced undergraduate and graduate levels in computer science, math, and applied math departments. The theory is written in simple algebraic terms and therefore requires preliminary knowledge only in basic linear algebra and calculus.

This volume contains 39 of the papers presented at the Sixth European Multigrid Conference, held in Gent, Belgium, September 27-30, 1999. The topics treated at the conference cover all aspects of Multigrid Methods: theory, analysis, computer implementation, applications in the fields of physics, chemistry, fluid mechanics, structural mechanics and magnetism.

A thoughtful consideration of the current level of development of multigrid methods, this volume is a carefully edited collection of papers that addresses its topic on several levels. The first three chapters orient the reader who is familiar with standard numerical techniques to multigrid methods, first by discussing multigrid in the context of standard techniques, second by detailing the mechanics of use of the method, and third by applying the basic method to some current problems in fluid dynamics. The fourth chapter provides a unified development, complete with theory, of algebraic multigrid (AMG), which is a linear equation solver based on multigrid principles. The last chapter is an ambitious development of a very general theory of multigrid methods for variationally posed problems. Included as an appendix is the latest edition of the Multigrid Bibliography, an attempted compilation of all existing research publications on multigrid.

Mathematics of Computing -- Numerical Analysis.