Characterizing the inverses of block tridiagonal, block Toeplitz matrices

Abstract

We consider the inversion of block tridiagonal, block Toeplitz matrices and comment on the behaviour of these inverses as one moves away from the diagonal. Using matrix Mobius transformations, we first present an representation (with respect to the number of block rows and block columns) for the inverse matrix and subsequently use this representation to characterize the inverse matrix. There are four symmetry-distinct cases where the blocks of the inverse matrix (i) decay to zero on both sides of the diagonal, (ii) oscillate on both sides, (iii) decay on one side and oscillate on the other and (iv) decay on one side and grow on the other. This characterization exposes the necessary conditions for the inverse matrix to be numerically banded and may also aid in the design of preconditioners and fast algorithms. Finally, we present numerical examples of these matrix types.