Perturbation results for nearly uncoupled Markov chains with applications to iterative methods

Summary The standard perturbation theory for linear equations states that nearly uncoupled Markov chains (NUMCs) are very sensitive to small changes in the elements. Indeed, some algorithms, such as standard Gaussian elimination, will obtain poor results for such problems. A structured perturbation theory is given that shows that NUMCs usually lead to well conditioned problems. It is shown that with appropriate stopping, criteria, iterative aggregation/disaggregation algorithms will achieve these structured error bounds. A variant of Gaussian elimination due to Grassman, Taksar and Heyman was recently shown by O'Cinneide to achieve such bounds.Supported by the National Science Foundation under grant CCR-9000526 and its renewal, grant CCR-9201692. This research was done in part, during the author's visit to the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications, 514 Vincent Hall, 206 Church St. S.E., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA     

Relaxed functional iteration techniques for the numerical solution of M/G/1 type Markov chains

We introduce a new iterative method for the computation of the minimal nonnegative solutionG of the matrix equation , arising in the numerical solution of M/G/1 type Markov chains. The idea consists in applying a relaxation technique to customarily used functional iteration formulas. The proposed method is easy to implement and outperforms, in terms of number of iterations and execution time, the standard functional iteration techniques.     

New perturbation bounds for denumerable Markov chains

This paper is devoted to perturbation analysis of denumerable Markov chains. Bounds are provided for the deviation between the stationary distribution of the perturbed and nominal chain, where the bounds are given by the weighted supremum norm. In addition, bounds for the perturbed stationary probabilities are established. Furthermore, bounds on the norm of the asymptotic decomposition of the perturbed stationary distribution are provided, where the bounds are expressed in terms of the norm of the ergodicity coefficient, or the norm of a special residual matrix. Refinements of our bounds for Doeblin Markov chains are considered as well. Our results are illustrated with a number of examples.     

Block-iterative methods for consistent and inconsistent linear equations

Summary We shall in this paper consider the problem of computing a generalized solution of a given linear system of equations. The matrix will be partitioned by blocks of rows or blocks of columns. The generalized inverses of the blocks are then used as data to Jacobi- and SOR-types of iterative schemes. It is shown that the methods based on partitioning by rows converge towards the minimum norm solution of a consistent linear system. The column methods converge towards a least squares solution of a given system. For the case with two blocks explicit expressions for the optimal values of the iteration parameters are obtained. Finally an application is given to the linear system that arises from reconstruction of a two-dimensional object by its one-dimensional projections.     

Deflated GMRES for systems with multiple shifts and multiple right-hand sides

We consider solution of multiply shifted systems of nonsymmetric linear equations, possibly also with multiple right-hand sides. First, for a single right-hand side, the matrix is shifted by several multiples of the identity. Such problems arise in a number of applications, including lattice quantum chromodynamics where the matrices are complex and non-Hermitian. Some Krylov iterative methods such as GMRES and BiCGStab have been used to solve multiply shifted systems for about the cost of solving just one system. Restarted GMRES can be improved by deflating eigenvalues for matrices that have a few small eigenvalues. We show that a particular deflated method, GMRES-DR, can be applied to multiply shifted systems.In quantum chromodynamics, it is common to have multiple right-hand sides with multiple shifts for each right-hand side. We develop a method that efficiently solves the multiple right-hand sides by using a deflated version of GMRES and yet keeps costs for all of the multiply shifted systems close to those for one shift. An example is given showing this can be extremely effective with a quantum chromodynamics matrix.     

Generalized consistent orderings and the Accelerated Overrelaxation method

In this paper, the behavior of the block Accelerated Overrelaxation (AOR) iterative method, when applied to linear systems with a generalized consistently ordered coefficient matrix, is investigated. An equation, relating the eigenvalues of the block Jacobi iteration matrix to the eigenvalues of its associated block AOR iteration matrix, as well as sufficient conditions for the convergence of the block AOR method, are obtained.     

On the convergence of splittings for semidefinite linear systems

Recently, Lee et al. [Young-ju Lee, Jinbiao Wu, Jinchao Xu, Ludmil Zikatanov, On the convergence of iterative methods for semidefinite linear systems, SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl. 28 (2006) 634-641] introduce new criteria for the semi-convergence of general iterative methods for semidefinite linear systems based on matrix splitting. The new conditions generalize the classical notion of P-regularity introduced by Keller [H.B. Keller, On the solution of singular and semidefinite linear systems by iterations, SIAM J. Numer. Anal. 2 (1965) 281-290]. In view of their results, we consider here stipulations on a splitting A=M-N, which lead to fixed point systems such that, the iterative scheme converges to a weighted Moore-Penrose solution to the system Ax=b. Our results extend the result of Lee et al. to a more general case and we also show that it requires less restrictions on the splittings than Keller’s P-regularity condition to ensure the convergence of iterative scheme.     

Weighted iterative solutions of linear differential equations and heat conduction of ideal gases in moment theory

An iterative method is proposed to find a particular solution of a system of linear differential equations, in the form of a fixed-point problem, with no boundary conditions. To circumvent the unboundedness of differential operators, iterative approximation with gradually decreasing weight is used. Conditions for convergence that can easily be checked in numerical iterations are established. Furthermore, for the numerical iterative scheme, uniqueness and stability theorems are proved. These results are applied to heat conduction of ideal gases in moment theory.     

Convergence of a generalized MSSOR method for augmented systems

Recently, Wu et al. [S.-L. Wu, T.-Z. Huang, X.-L. Zhao, A modified SSOR iterative method for augmented systems, J. Comput. Appl. Math. 228 (1) (2009) 424-433] introduced a modified SSOR (MSSOR) method for augmented systems. In this paper, we establish a generalized MSSOR (GMSSOR) method for solving the large sparse augmented systems of linear equations, which is the extension of the MSSOR method. Furthermore, the convergence of the GMSSOR method for augmented systems is analyzed and numerical experiments are carried out, which show that the GMSSOR method with appropriate parameters has a faster convergence rate than the MSSOR method with optimal parameters.     

Convergence of block iterative methods for linear systems with generalized H-matrices

The paper studies the convergence of some block iterative methods for the solution of linear systems when the coefficient matrices are generalized H$H$-matrices. A truth is found that the class of conjugate generalized H$H$-matrices is a subclass of the class of generalized H$H$-matrices and the convergence results of R. Nabben [R. Nabben, On a class of matrices which arises in the numerical solution of Euler equations, Numer. Math. 63 (1992) 411–431] are then extended to the class of generalized H$H$-matrices. Furthermore, the convergence of the block AOR iterative method for linear systems with generalized H$H$-matrices is established and some properties of special block tridiagonal matrices arising in the numerical solution of Euler equations are discussed. Finally, some examples are given to demonstrate the convergence results obtained in this paper.     

Perturbation analysis for oblique projection generalized inverses of closed linear operators in Banach spaces

In this paper, we study the perturbation problem for oblique projection generalized inverses of closed linear operators in Banach spaces. By the method of the perturbation analysis of linear operators, we obtain an explicit perturbation theorem and error estimates for the oblique projection generalized inverse of closed linear operators under the T-bounded perturbation, which extend the known results on the perturbation of the oblique projection generalized inverse of bounded linear operators in Banach spaces.     

The block grade of a block Krylov space

The aim of the paper is to compile and compare basic theoretical facts on Krylov subspaces and block Krylov subspaces. Many Krylov (sub)space methods for solving a linear system Ax=b have the property that in exact computer arithmetic the true solution is found after ν iterations, where ν is the dimension of the largest Krylov subspace generated by A from r₀, the residual of the initial approximation x₀. This dimension is called the grade of r₀ with respect to A. Though the structure of block Krylov subspaces is more complicated than that of ordinary Krylov subspaces, we introduce here a block grade for which an analogous statement holds when block Krylov space methods are applied to linear systems with multiple, say s, right-hand sides. In this case, the s initial residuals are bundled into a matrix R₀ with s columns. The possibility of linear dependence among columns of the block Krylov matrix , which in practical algorithms calls for the deletion (or, deflation) of some columns, requires extra care. Relations between grade and block grade are also established, as well as relations to the corresponding notions of a minimal polynomial and its companion matrix.     

On perturbations for oblique projection generalized inverses of closed linear operators in Banach spaces

The main concern of this paper is the perturbation problem for oblique projection generalized inverses of closed linear operators in Banach spaces. We provide a new stability characterization of oblique projection generalized inverses of closed linear operators under T-bounded perturbations, which improves some well known results in the case of the closed linear operators under the bounded perturbation or that the perturbation does not change the null space.     

Third-order iterative methods with applications to Hammerstein equations: A unified approach

The geometrical interpretation of a family of higher order iterative methods for solving nonlinear scalar equations was presented in [S. Amat, S. Busquier, J.M. Gutiérrez, Geometric constructions of iterative functions to solve nonlinear equations. J. Comput. Appl. Math. 157(1) (2003) 197-205]. This family includes, as particular cases, some of the most famous third-order iterative methods: Chebyshev methods, Halley methods, super-Halley methods, C-methods and Newton-type two-step methods. The aim of the present paper is to analyze the convergence of this family for equations defined between two Banach spaces by using a technique developed in [J.A. Ezquerro, M.A. Hernández, Halley’s method for operators with unbounded second derivative. Appl. Numer. Math. 57(3) (2007) 354-360]. This technique allows us to obtain a general semilocal convergence result for these methods, where the usual conditions on the second derivative are relaxed. On the other hand, the main practical difficulty related to the classical third-order iterative methods is the evaluation of bilinear operators, typically second-order Fréchet derivatives. However, in some cases, the second derivative is easy to evaluate. A clear example is provided by the approximation of Hammerstein equations, where it is diagonal by blocks. We finish the paper by applying our methods to some nonlinear integral equations of this type.     

A stationary iterative pseudoinverse algorithm

Iterative methods applied to the normal equationsA ^T Ax=A ^T b are sometimes used for solving large sparse linear least squares problems. However, when the matrix is rank-deficient many methods, although convergent, fail to produce the unique solution of minimal Euclidean norm. Examples of such methods are the Jacobi and SOR methods as well as the preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm. We analyze here an iterative scheme that overcomes this difficulty for the case of stationary iterative methods. The scheme combines two stationary iterative methods. The first method produces any least squares solution whereas the second produces the minimum norm solution to a consistent system. This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council for Engineering Sciences, TFR.     

Characterizations of the polynomial numerical hull of degree k

Six characterizations of the polynomial numerical hull of degree k are established for bounded linear operators on a Hilbert space. It is shown how these characterizations provide a natural distinction between interior and boundary points. One of the characterizations is used to prove that the polynomial numerical hull of any fixed degree k for a Toeplitz matrix whose symbol is piecewise continuous approaches all or most of that of the infinite-dimensional Toeplitz operator, as the matrix size goes to infinity.     

Comparison results on preconditioned SOR-type iterative method for Z-matrices linear systems

In this paper, we present some comparison theorems on preconditioned iterative method for solving Z-matrices linear systems, Comparison results show that the rate of convergence of the Gauss–Seidel-type method is faster than the rate of convergence of the SOR-type iterative method.     

The general coupled matrix equations over generalized bisymmetric matrices

In the present paper, by extending the idea of conjugate gradient (CG) method, we construct an iterative method to solve the general coupled matrix equations

     

On a direct method for the solution of nearly uncoupled Markov chains

Summary This note is concerned with the accuracy of the solution of nearly uncoupled Markov chains by a direct method based on the LU decomposition. It is shown that plain Gaussian elimination may fail in the presence of rounding errors. A modification of Gaussian elimination with diagonal pivoting and correction of small pivots is proposed and analyzed. It is shown that the accuracy of the solution is affected by two condition numbers associated with aggregation and the coupling respectively.This work was supported in part by the Air Force Office of Sponsored Research under Contract AFOSR-87-0188