Open Access

Peter Deuflhard, Martin Weiser

• The paper deals with the multilevel solution of {\em elliptic} partial differential equations (PDEs) in a {\em finite element} setting: {\em uniform ellipticity} of the PDE then goes with {\em strict monotonicity} of the derivative of a nonlinear convex functional. A {\em Newton multigrid method} is advocated, wherein {\em linear residuals} are evaluated within the multigrid method for the computation of the Newton corrections. The globalization is performed by some {\em damping} of the ordinary Newton corrections. The convergence results and the algorithm may be regarded as an extension of those for local Newton methods presented recently by the authors. An {\em affine conjugate} global convergence theory is given, which covers both the {\em exact} Newton method (neglecting the occurrence of approximation errors) and {\em inexact} Newton--Galerkin methods addressing the crucial issue of accuracy matching between discretization and iteration errors. The obtained theoretical results are directly applied for the construction of adaptive algorithms. Finally, illustrative numerical experiments with a~{\sf NEWTON--KASKADE} code are documented.