A class of modified block SSOR preconditioners for symmetric positive definite systems of linear equations

A class of modified block SSOR preconditioners is presented for solving symmetric positive definite systems of linear equations, which arise in the hierarchical basis finite element discretizations of the second order self‐adjoint elliptic boundary value problems. This class of methods is strongly related to two level methods, standard multigrid methods, and Jacobi‐like hierarchical basis methods. The optimal relaxation factors and optimal condition numbers are estimated in detail. Theoretical analyses show that these methods are very robust, and especially well suited to difficult problems with rough solutions, discretized using highly nonuniform, adaptively refined meshes. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.