An additive Schwarz parallel approach to space-time
finite elements for hyperbolic equations

Matthew Anderson
Louisiana State University Dept. of Physics & Astronomy
202 Nicholson Hall Tower Drive, Baton Rouge LA 70803-4001
matt@phys.lsu.edu
Jung-Han Kimn

We study a time parallel space-time finite element approach for the nonhomogeneous wave equation using a continuous time Galerkin method and a time decomposition strategy for preconditioning. Space-time finite elements provide some natural advantages for numerical relativity in black hole simulations. With space-time elements, time-varying computational domains are straightforward, higher-order approaches are easily formulated, and both time and spatial domains can be discretized using a more general mesh. We present fully implicit examples in $ 1+1$, $ 2+1$, and $ 3+1$ dimensions using linear quadrilateral, hexahedral, and tesseractic elements. Krylov solvers with additive Schwarz preconditioning are used for solving the linear system. We introduce a time decomposition strategy in preconditioning which significantly improves performance when compared with unpreconditioned cases. Parallel performance results are also given.