A posteriori error analysis for Schwarz overlapping domain decomposition methods

Domain decomposition methods are widely used for the numerical solution of partial differential equations on high performance computers. We develop an adjoint-based a posteriori error analysis for both multiplicative and additive overlapping Schwarz domain decomposition methods. The numerical error in a user-specified functional of the solution (quantity of interest) is decomposed into contributions that arise as a result of the finite iteration between the subdomains and from the spatial discretization. The spatial discretization contribution is further decomposed into contributions arising from each subdomain. This decomposition of the numerical error is used to construct a two stage solution strategy that efficiently reduces the error in the quantity of interest by adjusting the relative contributions to the error.