Interprecision transfers in iterative refinement

Abstract

We make the interprecision transfers explicit in an algorithmic description of iterative refinement and obtain new insights into the algorithm. One example is the classic variant of iterative refinement where the matrix and the factorization are stored in a working precision and the residual is evaluated in a higher precision. In that case we make the observation that this algorithm will solve a promoted form of the original problem and thereby characterize the limiting behavior in a novel way and obtain a different version of the classic convergence analysis. We also discuss two approaches for interprecision transfer in the triangular solves.