A variant of the HSS preconditioner for complex symmetric indefinite linear systems

Using the equivalent block two-by-two real linear systems, we establish a new variant of the Hermitian and skew-Hermitian splitting (HSS) preconditioner for a class of complex symmetric indefinite linear systems. The new preconditioner is not only a better approximation to the block two-by-two real coefficient matrix than the well-known HSS preconditioner, but also resulting in an unconditional convergent fixed-point iteration. The quasi-optimal parameter, which minimizes an upper bound of the spectral radius of the iteration matrix, is analyzed. Eigen-properties and an upper bound of the degree of the minimal polynomial of the preconditioned matrix are discussed. Finally, two numerical examples are provided to show the efficiency of the new preconditioner.