Communication Complexity and Speed-up in the Explicit Difference Method

An earlier suggested parallel "ring" algorithm for solving the spatially one-dimensional initial-boundary-value problem (IBVP) for a parabolic equation using an explicit difference method is shortly described. Theoretical estimates for both of the speed-up function and the communication complexity of this parallel algorithm are studied. The speed-up function is determined as the ratio between times for realization of the algorithm in sequentional and parallel cases. Theoretical estimates of the speed-up function show the significant speed-up of the parallel algorithm in comparison with the serial one for a large number of values computed by one processor during one time level and it is shown that the the speed-up tends to the number of used processors. Communication complexity is determined as a ratio between the number of interchanges and the number of arithmetical operations. It has been proven that the coefficient of the communication complexity for spatially m-dimensional IBVP tends in general to ¾.