Multigrid for an HDG method

Abstract

We analyse the convergence of a multigrid algorithm for the hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) method for diffusion problems. We prove that a nonnested multigrid V-cycle, with a single smoothing step per level, converges at a mesh-independent rate. Along the way, we study conditioning of the HDG method, prove new error estimates for it and identify an abstract class of problems for which a non-nested two-level multigrid cycle with one smoothing step converges even when the prolongation norm is greater than 1. Numerical experiments verifying our theoretical results are presented.