Algebraic multigrid preconditioning for iterative eigensolvers

The objective is a comparative study of iterative solvers for eigenproblems arising from elliptic and self–adjoint partial differential operators. Typically only a few of the smallest eigenvalues of these problems are to be computed. We discuss various gradient based preconditioned eigensolvers which make use of algebraic multigrid preconditioning. We present some algorithms together with numerical results. Performance characteristics are derived by comparison with the solutions of standard problems. We show that known advantages of algebraic multigrid preconditioning (e.g. for boundary–value problems with large jumps in the coefficients) transfer to AMG–preconditioned eigensolvers. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)