Convergence of nested classical iterative methods for linear systems

Summary Classical iterative methods for the solution of algebraic linear systems of equations proceed by solving at each step a simpler system of equations. When this system is itself solved by an (inner) iterative method, the global method is called a two-stage iterative method. If this process is repeated, then the resulting method is called a nested iterative method. We study the convergence of such methods and present conditions on the splittings corresponding to the iterative methods to guarantee convergence forany number of inner iterations. We also show that under the conditions presented, the spectral radii of the global iteration matrices decrease when the number of inner iterations increases. The proof uses a new comparison theorem for weak regular splittings. We extend our results to larger classes of iterative methods, which include iterative block Gauss-Seidel. We develop a theory for the concatenation of such iterative methods. This concatenation appears when different numbers of inner interations are performed at each outer step. We also analyze block methods, where different numbers of inner iterations are performed for different diagonal blocks.Dedicated to Richard S. Varga on the occasion of his sixtieth birthdayP.J. Lanzkron was supported by Exxon Foundation Educational grant 12663 and the UNISYS Corporation; D.J. Rose was supported by AT&T Bell Laboratories, the Microelectronic Center of North Carolina and the Office of Naval Research under contract number N00014-85-K-0487; D.B. Szyld was supported by the National Science Foundation grant DMS-8807338.