Domain Decomposition Algorithms with Small Overlap

Numerical experiments have shown that two-level Schwarz methods often perform very well even if the overlap between neighboring subregions is quite small. This is true to an even greater extent for a related algorithm, due to Barry Smith, where a Schwarz algorithm is applied to the reduced linear system of equations that remains after the variables interior to the subregions have been eliminated. In this paper, a supporting theory is developed.