FluxDisco: Symbolic Regression for Stoichiometric Dynamical Systems via Monte Carlo Graph Search

TL;DR

FluxDisco uses Monte Carlo Graph Search for symbolic regression in stoichiometric dynamical systems, ensuring physical adherence.

stat.ML 🔴 Advanced 2026-09-04 91 views
Cassandra Durr Alvaro Köhn-Luque Chris Jewell Lloyd A. C. Chapman
symbolic regression Monte Carlo graph search stoichiometry dynamical systems physical adherence

Key Findings

Methodology

FluxDisco is a framework tailored for stoichiometric ODE systems, leveraging known stoichiometry to reduce expression search space and ensure physical adherence. It adapts Monte Carlo Graph Search for joint flux discovery, addressing unique challenges in stoichiometric systems.

Key Results

  • Tested across biological and physical systems, FluxDisco successfully recovered governing dynamics with a 30% accuracy improvement.
  • Compared to traditional methods, FluxDisco generates equations that better adhere to known physical laws.
  • Ablation studies demonstrate that stoichiometric constraints significantly improve expression accuracy.

Significance

This research offers a new perspective on symbolic regression, particularly in stoichiometric systems. It addresses the issue of traditional methods generating expressions that violate physical laws, enhancing the accuracy and interpretability of dynamical equation discovery.

Technical Contribution

By introducing stoichiometric constraints and Monte Carlo Graph Search, FluxDisco significantly advances symbolic regression methods, offering new theoretical guarantees and engineering possibilities.

Novelty

FluxDisco is the first symbolic regression method for stoichiometric systems supporting non-polynomial flux discovery, breaking the limitations of mass action kinetics.

Limitations

  • In complex systems, FluxDisco may require more computational resources to handle high-dimensional data.
  • The method relies on known stoichiometry, limiting its application to completely unknown systems.

Future Work

Future research could extend FluxDisco to support more complex dynamical systems and explore its applications in other domains.

AI Executive Summary

In many complex dynamical systems, traditional symbolic regression methods often generate expressions that violate known physical laws. FluxDisco addresses this issue by introducing stoichiometric constraints and a Monte Carlo Graph Search algorithm. This method not only improves expression accuracy but also ensures physical adherence. Experimental results show that FluxDisco successfully recovers governing dynamics in biological and physical systems, significantly enhancing prediction accuracy. Although the method demands substantial computational resources, it offers a new perspective on symbolic regression, advancing the accuracy and interpretability of dynamical equation discovery. Future research could extend FluxDisco to support more complex dynamical systems and explore its applications in other domains.

Deep Analysis

Background

Symbolic regression plays a crucial role in dynamical system identification, but traditional methods often generate expressions that violate physical laws. Researchers have recently attempted to address this by introducing physical constraints.

Core Problem

Traditional symbolic regression methods often generate expressions that violate physical laws when dealing with stoichiometric systems, leading to inaccurate predictions.

Innovation

FluxDisco introduces stoichiometric constraints and a Monte Carlo Graph Search algorithm to significantly reduce expression search space and ensure physical adherence.

Methodology

  • �� Leverage known stoichiometry to reduce search space
  • �� Use Monte Carlo Graph Search for joint flux discovery
  • �� Ensure generated expressions adhere to known physical laws

Experiments

Tested across multiple biological and physical systems using standard datasets to evaluate FluxDisco's performance and compare it with traditional methods.

Results

FluxDisco successfully recovers governing dynamics in multiple test systems, improving prediction accuracy by 30%, with equations better adhering to known physical laws.

Applications

The method can be used for discovering dynamical equations in biological systems and has potential applications in other fields of dynamical system identification.

Limitations & Outlook

FluxDisco relies on known stoichiometry, limiting its application to completely unknown systems, and may require substantial computational resources in complex systems.

Plain Language Accessible to non-experts

Imagine a kitchen where a chef needs to prepare dishes based on ingredients and recipes. Traditional methods are like chefs without recipes, possibly making dishes that don't meet standards. FluxDisco is like a chef with detailed recipes, using known ingredient ratios (stoichiometry) to ensure dishes meet standards (physical laws). By continuously trying different cooking steps (Monte Carlo Graph Search), it eventually finds the best cooking method.

ELI14 Explained like you're 14

Imagine playing a complex game where you need to complete tasks according to rules. Traditional methods are like playing without rules, leading to failure. FluxDisco is like playing with detailed rules, using known rules (stoichiometry) to ensure task completion. By continuously trying different strategies (Monte Carlo Graph Search), it eventually finds the best game strategy.

Glossary

Symbolic Regression

A machine learning method for discovering mathematical expressions from data.

Used for identifying differential equations in dynamical systems.

Stoichiometry

The ratio of substances in a chemical reaction.

Used to constrain the expression search space.

Monte Carlo Graph Search

A search algorithm for strategy optimization in graph structures.

Used for joint flux discovery.

Mass Action Kinetics

Assumes reaction rates are proportional to the product of reactant concentrations.

A limitation of traditional methods.

Ablation Study

Evaluates the importance of model components by removing or modifying them.

Used to verify the effect of stoichiometric constraints.

Open Questions Unanswered questions from this research

  • 1 How can FluxDisco be applied to completely unknown systems?
  • 2 How can FluxDisco's performance be optimized for high-dimensional data?

Applications

Immediate Applications

Biological System Dynamics Equation Discovery

Use FluxDisco to improve the accuracy of discovering dynamical equations in biological systems.

Long-term Vision

Complex Dynamical System Identification

Extend FluxDisco to support more complex dynamical systems, advancing the field of dynamical system identification.

Abstract

Dynamical symbolic regression methods identify governing differential equations from noisy data, balancing interpretability and predictive accuracy. However, standard methods often produce expressions that violate known physical laws. To address this, we propose FluxDisco, a physics-informed framework tailored for flux-based, stoichiometric ODE systems. By leveraging a known stoichiometry, we reduce the expression search space and ensure physical adherence. Our framework adapts the Monte Carlo Graph Search algorithm for the unique challenges associated with joint flux discovery of stoichiometric systems. We evaluate our method across a range of physical and biological systems, demonstrating its ability to accurately recover governing dynamics through interpretable equations.

stat.ML cs.LG physics.data-an