arXiv:2608.28660cs.CLcs.AI2026-09

通过测试时扩展提升科学方程发现能力,发现搜索宽度是关键参数。

Test-Time Scaling for Scientific Equation Discovery

  • 将方程发现建模为统一的迭代搜索过程,整合多种方法。
  • 在固定算力下,搜索宽度越大效果越好,且随预算增加而提升。
  • 适合做自动化科学建模与复杂系统分析的研究者参考。

测试时扩展(TTS)通过分配额外测试时计算资源来提升语言模型的推理能力,但以往研究主要集中在数学和编程等封闭式任务。本文研究TTS在自动化方程发现这一开放式设置中的应用,模型需在候选方程中搜索,并依赖观测数据点获得反馈。我们将大语言模型驱动的方程发现建模为一个迭代搜索过程,从计算分配视角统一了Best-of-N、序列优化、树搜索和演化式方法。为隔离分配策略与提示工程的影响,我们在固定预算下比较最小化并行控制器。在LLM-SRBench方程发现任务上,结果表明搜索宽度是主导分配参数:最优宽度随计算预算增加而上升,而种群-分支比例和控制器选择影响较小。合适的宽度还能通过提高并行度提升实际运行效率。这些结果表明,在具备有效验证器的前提下,控制探索与利用是实现大模型方程发现可扩展性的核心。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Test-time scaling (TTS) improves language model reasoning by allocating additional test-time compute, but prior work mainly studies closed-ended tasks such as math and coding. We study TTS for automated equation discovery, an open-ended setting where models search over candidate equations and rely on observed datapoints for feedback. We formulate LLM-driven equation discovery as an iterative search process that unifies Best-of-N, sequential refinement, tree search, and evolution-style methods under a common compute-allocation view. To isolate allocation effects from prompt engineering and other heuristics, we compare minimal parallel controllers under fixed budgets. On LLM-SRBench equation-discovery tasks, we find that search width is the dominant allocation parameter: the best width in our sweep generally increases with the compute budget, while the population--branching split and controller choice matter less. Appropriate width selection also improves wall-clock efficiency by increasing parallelism. These results suggest that, given an informative verifier, controlling exploration and exploitation is central to scaling LLM-based equation discovery.

方程发现测试时扩展大模型推理自动化科学

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