An a posteriori estimate for the error of a standard Krylov approximation to the matrix exponential is derived. The estimate is based on the defect (residual) of the Krylov approximation and is proven to constitute a rigorous upper bound on the error, in contrast to existing asymptotical approximations. It can be computed economically in the underlying Krylov space. In view of timestepping applications, assuming that the given matrix is scaled by a time step, it is shown that the bound is asymptotically correct (with an order related to the dimension of the Krylov space) for the time step tending to zero. This means that the deviation of the error estimate from the true error tends to zero faster than the error itself. Furthermore, this result is extended to Krylov approximations of ϕ-functions and to improved versions of such approximations. The accuracy of the derived bounds is demonstrated by examples and compared with different variants known from the literature, which are also investigated more closely. Alternative error bounds are tested on examples, in particular a version based on the concept of effective order. For the case where the matrix exponential is used in time integration algorithms, a step size selection strategy is proposed and illustrated by experiments.

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Prior recent work, devoted to the study of polynomial Krylov techniques for the approximation of the action of the matrix exponential etAv, is extended to the case of associated φ-functions (which occur within the class of exponential integrators). In particular, a posteriori error bounds and estimates, based on the notion of the defect (residual) of the Krylov approximation are considered. Computable error bounds and estimates are discussed and analyzed. This includes a new error bound which favorably compares to existing error bounds in specific cases. The accuracy of various error bounds is characterized in relation to corresponding Ritz values of A. Ritz values yield properties of the spectrum of A (specific properties are known a priori, e.g., for Hermitian or skew-Hermitian matrices) in relation to the actual starting vector v and can be computed. This gives theoretical results together with criteria to quantify the achieved accuracy on the fly. For other existing error estimates, the reliability and performance are studied by similar techniques. Effects of finite precision (floating point arithmetic) are also taken into account.

The exponential function maps the imaginary axis to the unit circle and, for many applications, this unitarity property is also desirable from its approximations. We show that this property is conserved not only by the (k, k)-rational barycentric interpolant of the exponential on the imaginary axis, but also by (k, k)-rational barycentric approximants that minimize a linearized approximation error. These results are a consequence of certain properties of singular vectors of Loewner-type matrices associated to linearized approximation errors. Prominent representatives of this class are rational approximants computed by the adaptive Antoulas-Anderson (AAA) method and the AAA-Lawson method. Our results also lead to a modified procedure with improved numerical stability of the unitarity property and reduced computational cost.