arXiv:2604.01210cs.LGcs.AI2026-04

用智能体协同演化理论与代码,实现可解释的科学算法发现。

CliffSearch: Structured Agentic Co-Evolution over Theory and Code for Scientific Algorithm Discovery

  • 设计多智能体框架,以理论+代码为结构化节点进行进化
  • 结合评审反馈的正确性与原创性,精准筛选高质量算法
  • 分探索与修正路径变异,兼顾新颖性与可靠性,适合科研人员

科学算法发现是迭代过程:提出假设、实现、压力测试并修订。现有基于大模型的搜索系统虽加速了假设生成,但常因仅优化代码而忽视科学结构,且缺乏对正确性与原创性的有效评估。本文提出CliffSearch,一个基于智能体的进化框架,核心进化操作(配对选择、交叉、变异与评审)均由大模型智能体执行。其设计遵循三大原则:(1) 每个节点为结构化科学成果,以理论+代码或仅代码形式存在;(2) 正确性与原创性评审结果作为与任务指标同等重要的筛选条件;(3) 变异分为探索与修正两条路径:探索变异引入邻近学科思想以提升新颖性,修正变异则基于评审信号(理论、代码、基准结果、运行时错误)进行针对性修复。在三个基准驱动研究中验证:Transformer超连接演化、固定nanoGPT架构上的优化器发现、以及小型原生优化器消融实验。相同流程支持明确指标导向、可复现的持续演化,并在受控条件下实现发现结果的评审对比。最终形成以科学可解释性与正确性为核心、在可控新颖性约束下优化任务性能的工作流,而非单纯追求候选数量。完整实验产物、交互可视化及最佳节点导出见https://cliffsearch.ai。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Scientific algorithm discovery is iterative: hypotheses are proposed, implemented, stress-tested, and revised. Current LLM-guided search systems accelerate proposal generation, but often under-represent scientific structure by optimizing code-only artifacts with weak correctness/originality gating. We present CliffSearch, an agentic evolutionary framework in which the core evolution operators (pair selection, crossover, mutation, and review) are implemented as LLM agents, and the loop is designed around three principles: (1) each node is a structured scientific artifact, instantiated in either theory+code or code_only mode, (2) reviewer judgments of correctness and originality are first-class selection gates alongside optimization of the benchmark metric of interest, and (3) mutation is split into exploration and correction pathways with distinct objectives. Exploration mutation imports ideas from adjacent scientific domains to increase novelty, while correction mutation performs targeted evidence-guided repair using reviewer signals over theory, code, benchmark results, and runtime errors. We illustrate the framework on three benchmark-grounded studies: transformer hyper-connection evolution, optimizer discovery on a fixed nanoGPT stack, and a smaller native-optimizer ablation. Across these settings, the same loop supports explicit metric direction, reproducible persistence, and reviewer-gated comparison of discoveries under controlled search conditions. The result is a discovery workflow that prioritizes scientific interpretability and correctness while optimizing task metrics under controlled novelty constraints, rather than maximizing candidate throughput alone. Full run artifacts, interactive visualizations, and exported best nodes for the reported studies are available at https://cliffsearch.ai .

算法发现智能体科学计算进化算法

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