Modeling the asynchronous Jacobi method without communication delays
Asynchronous iterative methods for solving linear systems are gaining renewed interest due to the high cost of synchronization points in massively parallel codes. Historically, theory on asynchronous iterative methods has focused on asymptotic behavior, while the transient behavior remains poorly understood. In this paper, we study a model of the asynchronous Jacobi method without communication delays, which we call simplified asynchronous Jacobi. Simplified asynchronous Jacobi can be used to model asynchronous Jacobi implemented in shared memory or distributed memory with fast communication networks. Our analysis uses the idea of a propagation matrix, which is similar in concept to an iteration matrix. We show that simplified asynchronous Jacobi can continue to reduce the residual when some processes are slower than other processes. We also show that simplified asynchronous Jacobi can converge when synchronous Jacobi does not. We verify our analysis of simplified asynchronous Jacobi using results from asynchronous Jacobi implemented in shared and distributed memory.