What happens when querying with an IVF index if you increase the value of the NEIGHBOR PARTITION probes parameter?

When querying with an IVF (Inverted File) index, increasing the value of the NEIGHBOR PARTITION probes parameter leads to more partitions being probed during the search process. This approach enhances the likelihood of finding the nearest neighbors because it allows the query to access a broader range of candidates within the indexed vectors. Essentially, by examining more partitions, the system has a greater chance of identifying relevant vectors that might be close to the query vector, thus improving the accuracy of the results.

However, probing additional partitions naturally incurs a trade-off in terms of query latency. The more partitions that are examined, the longer it takes to perform the query because the system has to process a larger number of candidates before generating the final result set. Therefore, while the accuracy of the search results is enhanced due to the increased number of probes, this comes at the cost of longer response times due to the higher volume of data being evaluated.