IntroductionΒΆ
When working towards a solution of a linear system \(Ax=b\), Krylov methods do not need to know anything structural about the matrix \(A\); all they require is the ability to form matrix-vector products \(v \mapsto Av\) and, possibly, products with the transpose \(u \mapsto A^T u\). In essence, we do not even need the operator \(A\) to be represented by a matrix at all; we simply consider it as a linear function.
In PyKrylov, such linear functions can be conveniently packaged as LinearOperator objects. If A is an instance of LinearOperator and represents the “matrix” \(A\) above, we may computes matrix-vector products by simply writing A*v, where v is a Numpy array of appropriate size.
Similarly, if a Krylov method requires access to the transpose operator \(A^T\), it is conveniently available as A.T and products may be computed using, e.g., A.T * u. If A represents a symmetric operator \(A = A^T\), then A.T is simply a reference to A itself.
More generally, since \((A^T)^T = A\), the Python statement A.T.T is A always evaluates to True, which means that they are the same object.
In the next two sections, we describe generic linear operators and linear operators constructed by blocks.