Arbitrary precision computation of hydrodynamic stability eigenvalues

We show that by using higher order precision arithmetic, i.e., using floating point types with more significant bits than standard double precision numbers, one may accurately compute eigenvalues for non-normal matrices arising in hydrodynamic stability problems. The basic principle is illustrated by a classical example of two $7\times 7$ matrices for which it is well known that eigenvalue computations fail when using standard double precision arithmetic. We then present an implementation of the Chebyshev tau-QZ method allowing the use of a large number of Chebyshev polynomials together with arbitrary precision arithmetic. This is used to compute the behavior of the spectra for Couette and Poiseuille flow at high Reynolds number. An experimental convergence analysis finally makes it evident that high order precision is required to obtain accurate results.