We analyze the conjugate gradient (CG) method with variable preconditioning for solving a linear system with a real symmetric positive definite (SPD) matrix of coefficients $A$. We assume that the preconditioner is SPD on each step, and that the condition number of the preconditioned system matrix is bounded above by a constant independent of the step number. We show that the CG method with variable preconditioning under this assumption may not give improvement, compared to the steepest descent (SD) method. We describe the basic theory of CG methods with variable preconditioning with the emphasis on ``worst case' scenarios, and provide complete proofs of all facts not available in the literature. We give a new elegant geometric proof of the SD convergence rate bound. Our numerical experiments, comparing the preconditioned SD and CG methods, not only support and illustrate our theoretical findings, but also reveal two surprising and potentially practically important effects. First, we analyze variable preconditioning in the form of inner-outer iterations. In previous such tests, the unpreconditioned CG inner iterations are applied to an artificial system with some fixed preconditioner as a matrix of coefficients. We test a different scenario, where the unpreconditioned CG inner iterations solve linear systems with the original system matrix $A$. We demonstrate that the CG-SD inner-outer iterations perform as well as the CG-CG inner-outer iterations in these tests. Second, we show that variable preconditioning may surprisingly accelerate the SD and thus the CG convergence. Specifically, we compare the CG methods using a two-grid preconditioning with fixed and randomly chosen coarse grids, and observe that the fixed preconditioner method is twice as slow as the method with random preconditioning.
Steepest descent preconditioning is considered for the recently proposed nonlinear generalized minimal residual (N-GMRES) optimization algorithm for unconstrained nonlinear optimization. Two steepest descent preconditioning variants are proposed. The first employs a line search, while the second employs a predefined small step. A simple global convergence proof is provided for the N-GMRES optimization algorithm with the first steepest descent preconditioner (with line search), under mild standard conditions on the objective function and the line search processes. Steepest descent preconditioni…
Gradient-type iterative methods for solving Hermitian eigenvalue problems can be accelerated by using preconditioning and deflation techniques. A preconditioned steepest descent iteration with implicit deflation (PSD-id) is one of such methods. The convergence behavior of the PSD-id is recently investigated based on the pioneering work of Samokish on the preconditioned steepest descent method (PSD). The resulting non-asymptotic estimates indicate a superlinear convergence of the PSD-id under strong assumptions on the initial guess. The present paper utilizes an alternative convergence analysis…
Contingency analysis (CA) plays a critical role to guarantee operation security in the modern power systems. With the high penetration of renewable energy, a real-time and comprehensive N-1 CA is needed as a power system analysis tool to ensure system security. In this paper, a graph-based preconditioning conjugate gradient (GPCG) approach is proposed for the nodal parallel computing in N-1 CA. To pursue a higher performance in the practical application, the coefficient matrix of the base case is used as the incomplete LU (ILU) preconditioner for each N-1 scenario. Additionally, the re-dispatc…
In this paper, we analyze the spectra of the preconditioned matrices arising from discretized multi-dimensional Riesz spatial fractional diffusion equations. The finite difference method is employed to approximate the multi-dimensional Riesz fractional derivatives, which will generate symmetric positive definite ill-conditioned multi-level Toeplitz matrices. The preconditioned conjugate gradient method with a preconditioner based on the sine transform is employed to solve the resulting linear system. Theoretically, we prove that the spectra of the preconditioned matrices are uniformly bounded …
This note proposes an efficient preconditioner for solving linear and semi-linear parabolic equations. With the Crank-Nicholson time stepping method, the algebraic system of equations at each time step is solved with the conjugate gradient method, preconditioned with hierarchical interpolative factorization. Stiffness matrices arising in the discretization of parabolic equations typically have large condition numbers, and therefore preconditioning becomes essential, especially for large time steps. We propose to use the hierarchical interpolative factorization as the preconditioning for the co…
In this note we exploit polynomial preconditioners for the Conjugate Gradient method to solve large symmetric positive definite linear systems in a parallel environment. We put in connection a specialized Newton method to solve the matrix equation X^{-1} = A and the Chebyshev polynomials for preconditioning. We propose a simple modification of one parameter which avoids clustering of extremal eigenvalues in order to speed-up convergence. We provide results on very large matrices (up to 8 billion unknowns) in a parallel environment showing the efficiency of the proposed class of preconditioners…
This paper introduces the Nyström PCG algorithm for solving a symmetric positive-definite linear system. The algorithm applies the randomized Nyström method to form a low-rank approximation of the matrix, which leads to an efficient preconditioner that can be deployed with the conjugate gradient algorithm. Theoretical analysis shows that preconditioned system has constant condition number as soon as the rank of the approximation is comparable with the number of effective degrees of freedom in the matrix. The paper also develops adaptive methods that provably achieve similar performance without…
Connections of the conjugate gradient (CG) method with other methods in computational mathematics are surveyed, including the connections with the conjugate direction method, the subspace optimization method and the quasi-Newton method BFGS in numrical optimization, and the Lanczos method in numerical linear algebra. Two sequences of polynomials related to residual vectors and conjugate vectors are reviewed, where the residual polynomials are similar to orthogonal polynomials in the approximation theory and the roots of the polynomials reveal certain information of the coefficient matrix. The …
Robust, randomized preconditioning for kernel ridge regression
Johns Hopkins University（约翰斯·霍普金斯大学）；University of California Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校）；Stanford University（斯坦福大学）；California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院）；University of California San Diego（加州大学圣地亚哥分校）
Inner-iteration preconditioning with a symmetric splitting matrix for rank-deficient least squares problems
Institute of Computer Science, The Czech Academy of Sciences（计算机科学研究所，捷克科学院）；Faculty of Engineering, Information and Systems, University of Tsukuba（筑波大学工程信息系统学部）
There is growing awareness that errors in the model equations cannot be ignored in data assimilation methods such as four-dimensional variational assimilation (4D-Var). If allowed for, more information can be extracted from observations, longer time windows are possible, and the minimisation process is easier, at least in principle. Weak constraint 4D-Var estimates the model error and minimises a series of linear least-squares cost functionsfunctions, which can be achieved using the conjugate gradient (CG) method; minimising each cost function is called an inner loop. CG needs preconditioning …
BandPC: Learning Residual-Band Preconditioner Combinations for Flexible Conjugate Gradient Solvers
Wuhan University of Technology（武汉理工大学）；Embodied Physical Intelligence Center in Civil Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology（武汉理工大学土木工程具身智能中心）；Key Laboratory of Low-Altitude Technology and Smart Urban Renewal, Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of Hubei Province, Wuhan University of Technology（湖北省住房和城乡建设厅低空技术与智慧城市更新重点实验室（武汉理工大学））；Sanya Science and Education Innovation Park of Wuhan University of Technology（武汉理工大学三亚科教创新园）
Solving systems of linear equations is a problem occuring frequently in water engineering applications. Usually the size of the problem is too large to be solved via direct factorization. One can resort to iterative approaches, in particular the conjugate gradients method if the matrix is symmetric positive definite. Preconditioners further enhance the rate of convergence but hitherto only handcrafted ones requiring expert knowledge have been used. We propose an innovative approach employing Machine Learning, in particular a Convolutional Neural Network, to unassistedly design preconditioning …
This paper presents enhancement strategies for the Hermitian and skew-Hermitian splitting method based on gradient iterations. The spectral properties are exploited for the parameter estimation, often resulting in a better convergence. In particular, steepest descent with early stopping can generate a rough estimate of the optimal parameter. This is better than an arbitrary choice since the latter often causes stability problems or slow convergence. Additionally, lagged gradient methods are considered as inner solvers for the splitting method. Experiments show that they are competitive with co…
Accelerating Natural Gradient Descent for PINNs with Randomized Numerical Linear Algebra
University of Pavia（帕维亚大学）；Department of Mathematics（数学系）；Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture（土木工程与建筑系）；Institut Camille Jordan, Lyon 1 Université（让·乔丹研究所，里昂1大学）
