arXiv:2602.21553cs.IRcs.AI2026-02被引 2

用信息论方法重新评估RAG检索器,找出它们的优劣与互补性。

Revisiting RAG Retrievers: An Information Theoretic Benchmark

  • 基于互信息理论构建新评估框架,量化检索质量与冗余度。
  • 发现组合多个检索器能超越单一模型,提升整体性能。
  • 为设计高效RAG系统提供可操作的选型与集成建议。

检索增强生成(RAG)系统依赖检索模块为大语言模型提供相关上下文。尽管近年来提出了众多基于词法匹配、稠密嵌入或图引用等不同排序原理的检索器,但对其机制差异与重叠缺乏系统理解。现有基准多比较完整RAG流水线或引入新数据集,难以指导检索器本身的选择与融合;直接对比检索器的方法又受限于有限的评估工具,无法捕捉其互补与重叠优势。本文提出MIGRASCOPE——一种基于互信息的RAG检索器分析框架,重新审视主流检索器,并引入基于信息论与统计估计理论的严谨指标,用于量化检索质量、冗余度、协同效应与边际贡献。进一步表明,若合理选择,检索器集成性能优于任一单个检索器。我们在主要RAG语料库上应用该工具,揭示了当前先进检索器的实际贡献水平。研究结果为现代检索技术结构提供了新视角,并为构建鲁棒高效的RAG系统提供实用指导。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems rely critically on the retriever module to surface relevant context for large language models. Although numerous retrievers have recently been proposed, each built on different ranking principles such as lexical matching, dense embeddings, or graph citations, there remains a lack of systematic understanding of how these mechanisms differ and overlap. Existing benchmarks primarily compare entire RAG pipelines or introduce new datasets, providing little guidance on selecting or combining retrievers themselves. Those that do compare retrievers directly use a limited set of evaluation tools which fail to capture complementary and overlapping strengths. This work presents MIGRASCOPE, a Mutual Information based RAG Retriever Analysis Scope. We revisit state-of-the-art retrievers and introduce principled metrics grounded in information and statistical estimation theory to quantify retrieval quality, redundancy, synergy, and marginal contribution. We further show that if chosen carefully, an ensemble of retrievers outperforms any single retriever. We leverage the developed tools over major RAG corpora to provide unique insights on contribution levels of the state-of-the-art retrievers. Our findings provide a fresh perspective on the structure of modern retrieval techniques and actionable guidance for designing robust and efficient RAG systems.

RAG信息论检索评估模型集成

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