arXiv subjects

Tao Wang

Publications and source records attributed to Tao Wang.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Advancing Model Research in AgentX: Long-Horizon Autonomy for Industrial Recommender Systems

Sustaining industrial recommendation research requires using the results of one experiment to decide what to investigate next. We present AgentX-Model, the next generation of AgentX's model research framework, which connects proposal development and model experimentation within sandboxes defined by business inputs and prediction tasks. AgentX-Model adopts a dual-agent architecture comprising a Research Agent and a Model Agent. The Research Agent develops independently reviewed proposals from papers and experimental findings, while the Model Agent conducts multi-round investigations and returns code, measurements, and unresolved questions. Using the returned results, the Research Agent selects a starting implementation and formulates the next research question, allowing subsequent experiments to build on earlier findings. We organize this continuing research around four actions: Reproduce, Follow-up, Composition, and Diagnose. The first three actions drive routine research, while Diagnose acquires the evidence needed to choose a repair, including for issues raised by business feedback and online evaluation, such as prediction bias measured by PCOC. Across the production evaluation, 560 of 636 completed model-changing experiments recorded AUC above their business baselines. As research continued, some experiments recorded AUC above every comparable ancestor in their lineages. The five latest online A/B evaluations across different business settings reported gains including 10-15% in acquisition efficiency, 15-20% in target-segment advertising spend, and 0.3-0.8% in watch time; the watch-time model used approximately 10% fewer FLOPs and parameters. A dependency-aware historical-replay benchmark further evaluates research allocation, with initial results showing no consistent efficiency gain from more complex scheduling when agents already analyze and select concrete candidates.

cs.AI↗

arXiv2026

Meet, Compare, or Abstain: LatWeave for Deterministic Multi-Hop Question Answering on Knowledge Lattices

Probabilistic question-answering systems -- whether large language models (LLMs) themselves, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), or trained multi-hop retrievers -- conflate "what is known" and "how to reason" into a single probabilistic computation: hallucination cannot be eradicated, evidence chains cannot be audited, and the system answers even when it does not know. We present LatWeave, which organizes knowledge into a multidimensional knowledge lattice and compiles multi-hop QA into three deterministic operators -- meet (constraint intersection), compare (lattice-order comparison), and abstain (structural abstention); LLMs appear only on the construction side (one-shot extraction) and the query-planning side, while the answer-generation path is zero-LLM, zero-task-training, and auditable end to end -- so that question answering over Web-published knowledge becomes reproducible item by item. Rather than claiming across-the-board SOTA, we characterize the operating envelope of this paradigm on six public benchmarks: when knowledge is complete (MetaQA, 39,093 questions) meet chains are near-lossless over three hops (any-hit 0.9975, on par with fully supervised KBQA); on templated multi-hop home ground (2WikiMultihopQA held-out n=1,258) EM 0.865, well above published structure-augmented RAG reproductions; on open-text deep composition (MuSiQue) and extraction-coverage gaps (HotpotQA) we report degradation honestly and attribute it to causes outside the lattice-algebra layer; and when information is incomplete (IIRC) we achieve structural abstention with abstain accuracy 0.971 and leak rate 0.029. Within the operating envelope, deterministic execution pays no performance penalty, and every step on the answer path can be recomputed -- precisely the source of end-to-end auditability.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2026

Long-time behavior of McKean--Vlasov stochastic systems with singular coefficients

We develop a quantitative framework for the long-time behavior of McKean--Vlasov stochastic differential equations with singular coefficients and possible phase transitions. The framework separates the existence of invariant measures from their uniqueness. For existence, we introduce a generalized Lyapunov condition with a one-level trapping mechanism, which requires dissipativity at only one admissible moment level rather than global contraction. This permits distribution dependence with supercritical growth and thus is more compatible with phase-transition models. For uniqueness and convergence, we establish an anchored uniqueness and quantitative ergodicity principle. An explicit $L^1$-smallness condition, expressed through a convolution kernel built from derivative estimates of the anchored frozen semigroup, yields uniqueness and transfers exponential or polynomial mixing rates of the frozen dynamics to the nonlinear McKean--Vlasov system. Moreover, the principle is sensitive to the choice of topology: different distances lead to different perturbation kernels and hence different stability thresholds. A local version gives local uniqueness and quantitative attraction near a prescribed equilibrium. We apply the framework to two representative models. For non-symmetric granular media dynamics, we derive two explicit uniqueness thresholds that reveal the topology-sensitive nature of the theory. For the dynamical Curie--Weiss model, the Wasserstein-1 criterion recovers the sharp bifurcation threshold up to the critical equality. We identify all invariant measures, establish basin-dependent exponential convergence in the phase-transition regime, and show that the loss of anchored smallness at criticality leads to polynomial slowing down.

math.PR↗

arXiv2026

The VariableTNG project: how baryonic mechanisms shape galaxy properties

We use 50 Sobol-sampled VariableTNG simulations, varying eight subgrid parameters at fixed cosmology and initial conditions, to determine which baryonic processes regulate galaxies and black holes at $z=6$ and $z=8$. We compare the simulations with recent high-redshift measurements of the stellar mass function, star-forming main sequence, stellar and gas-phase mass-metallicity relations, stellar mass-size relation, and black-hole host and accretion properties. The simulations reproduce several broad trends in these observables, although differences remain in gas-phase metallicity, galaxy size, and the most extreme black-hole populations. Given the substantial uncertainties in both the physical modelling and the observational inference of high-redshift galaxy properties, we regard these differences as diagnostic tensions rather than definitive model failures. Random-forest analyses reveal a clear hierarchy in parameter sensitivity. The abundance of low-mass galaxies is regulated primarily by stellar feedback, particularly the supernova temperature $T_{\mathrm{SN}}$ and thermal wind fraction $τ_{\mathrm{w}}$, whereas the sensitivity of the scatter in the star-forming main sequence is weaker and redshift dependent. The high-accretion tail of black-hole growth depends on black-hole seeding and feedback parameters, but also on $T_{\mathrm{SN}}$, suggesting that stellar feedback indirectly regulates rapid black-hole growth through its impact on the available gas supply. Although cosmic variance can obscure these intrinsic responses in independent small volumes, our controlled experiment identifies stellar feedback as a common physical link between early low-mass galaxy formation and rapid black-hole growth.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Fountain pattern of baryon cycle revealed in galaxy ecosystems

Baryons in galaxy ecosystems are believed to undergo continuous cycles of inflow and outflow, forming fountain-like patterns that encode key information about how galaxies acquire matter from their environments and respond through feedback. The presence of such baryon cycles has been inferred from pieces of observational evidence, but a concrete understanding remains elusive because individual galaxy ecosystems are diverse and dynamic. Here we introduce a stacking method that combines baryonic fields across ensembles of individual galaxy ecosystems to suppress irregularities and reveal the underlying pattern. Applied to a cosmological hydrodynamic simulation, this approach unveils strikingly regular patterns in gas properties across the full spatial extent of galaxy ecosystems, in close agreement with those inferred from observations. This method is straightforward to implement, allowing the processes shaping the gas-cycling pattern to be fully understood within the structure-formation paradigm, and a solid framework to be constructed for linking simulated galaxy ecosystems with observations.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Public Information Generators: Common Knowledge and Information Loops

We analyze incomplete-information games where an oracle publicly shares information with privately informed players. One oracle dominates another if, for every experiment of the latter, it can choose an experiment that supports, in every game, every equilibrium outcome distribution induced by the other. We fully characterize equivalence (mutual dominance) and identify the information-loop obstruction governing one-sided dominance, obtaining necessity in general and sufficiency under separated-loop structures. The analysis highlights the role of common-knowledge components and develops a theory of information loops, thereby extending the seminal work of Blackwell (1951) to strategic environments and Aumann (1976)'s theory of common knowledge.

econ.TH↗

arXiv2026

Complex Problem Solving in Large Language Models: A Statistical Control Survey and Diagnostic Framework

Complex problem solving (CPS) with large language models (LLMs) is often framed as a matter of stronger reasoning or longer generation. Yet early-step error amplification, prompt brittleness, and failures to revise incorrect commitments are difficult to explain by missing knowledge or expressive capacity alone. This survey interprets CPS as a sequential estimation-and-decision problem over a latent solution state. A controller maintains a belief about an unobserved solution trajectory, updates it as noisy intermediate evidence arrives, and decides whether to commit, verify, branch, roll back, or abstain to minimize expected loss. Reasoning supplies candidate transitions and interpretations, whereas process control shapes and evaluates those proposals and regulates subsequent transitions and observations. Within this framework, we organize existing methods around five components: explicit state representation, transition structuring, validation and constraint enforcement, search and rollback, and uncertainty management. We also interpret evaluation metrics according to the statistical quantities they estimate. The framework further yields a diagnostic hypothesis: interventions should be most effective when they target the error or uncertainty component implicated by an observed failure. We distinguish systematic, stochastic, and irreducible error together with epistemic and aleatoric uncertainty, and call this alignment problem-control fit and its failure control mismatch. For example, additional sampling may reduce sampling variability while leaving a shared systematic error unchanged. This perspective clarifies what current methods estimate and control, what remains uncontrolled, and why reliable validation, targeted recovery, calibrated uncertainty, and matched-budget evaluation are central open problems.

stat.ML↗

arXiv2026

Comparison of Deterministic Information Providers

We analyze incomplete-information games where an oracle publicly shares information with players. One oracle dominates another if, in every game, it can match the set of equilibrium outcomes induced by the latter. Characterizations are provided for deterministic signaling functions, based on simultaneous posterior matching, a constructive partition criterion, and common knowledge components. This study elaborates on the work of Blackwell (1951) in games with incomplete information, using the common knowledge components of Aumann (1976).

econ.TH↗

arXiv2026

Forged in Quenching: Morphological Transformation across Star-forming and Quiescent Galaxies in EAGLE

The connection between morphology and quenching in central galaxies is well established, but its physical origin remains widely debated. We address this by tracing the main progenitor branches of $z=0$ star-forming and quiescent central galaxies in the EAGLE cosmological simulation from $z\gtrsim4$. Their disc-to-total ratio and triaxiality tracks are indistinguishable until $z\approx 1$-$2$, when both diverge concurrently with the onset of quenching, whereas the size and supermassive black hole (SMBH) mass differences are established earlier. We identify four physically distinct channels linking galaxy morphology and quenching. First, mergers cause size growth, rotation suppression, triaxiality increase, and SMBH growth, with the accumulated SMBH mass subsequently causes the quenching of galaxies. Second, with merger history controlled, galaxy morphology modulates SMBH growth throughout the star-forming phase: compact, dispersion-dominated galaxies grow their SMBHs faster and are preferentially quenched, producing the size and morphology differences between star-forming and quiescent galaxies. Third, at fixed stellar mass and SMBH mass, compactness further facilitates the quenching of galaxies. Fourth, disc instability transforms compact oblate discs into prolate systems, with substantial size growth and suppressed rotation but negligible stellar mass growth. This secular channel contributes about half of the prolate galaxy population around $M_{\rm star}\approx 10^{10.6}\,\rm M_\odot$. Prior to quenching, the progenitors of quiescent galaxies already have smaller sizes, lower disc-to-total ratios, and more massive SMBHs than star-forming galaxies at the same epoch, by amounts comparable to their differences at $z=0$. Morphology therefore plays an active role in growing the SMBH and quenching the galaxy, rather than being passively inherited through progenitor bias.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Superoutbursts and Superhumps of Cataclysmic Variables observed with TESS

Superoutbursts and superhumps are characteristic signatures of SU UMa-type cataclysmic variables, yet the full diversity of superhump evolutionary behaviour remains poorly constrained owing to the limitations of ground-based photometric monitoring. Here we report a systematic analysis of 30 SU UMa-type dwarf novae observed with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, covering 37 superoutburst events. We detect coherent superhump signals in 29 systems-including five first-time detections-and determine or refine orbital periods for 13 objects. The high-cadence light curves clearly resolve the canonical three-stage (A-B-C) superhump period evolution. Using Stage A periods, we derive dynamical mass ratios for 18 systems, consistent with established cataclysmic variable evolutionary tracks. The measured Stage B period derivatives match the range of values from ground-based campaigns, with prominent positive drifts concentrated in short-period, low-mass-ratio systems. Repeated superoutbursts yield consistent evolutionary patterns, demonstrating that superhump morphology is an intrinsic, repeatable property. Two systems break the standard template: RZ LMi shows an inverted stage sequence inconsistent with classical precession theory, while ASASSN-14kj exhibits no stage evolution but a coherent long-period modulation. Persistent superhumps during normal outbursts in three systems provide direct evidence that eccentric disk structures can survive beyond their parent superoutbursts, revealing a decoupling between thermal accretion and tidal eccentricity cycles. These results demonstrate the power of space-borne photometry for probing accretion disk dynamics and testing precession models across the cataclysmic variable parameter space.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2026

Current-Driven Magnetization Switching via Zhang-Li Torque

Current-driven magnetization switching is currently governed by two established mechanisms: the Slonczewski spin-transfer torque (STT) and the spin-orbit torque (SOT). Here we identify the Zhang-Li STT as a third mechanism that operates on a different physical footing. Using micromagnetic simulations, we show that the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (iDMI) inevitably creates spatial magnetization gradients at device edges, enabling the Zhang-Li torque to drive deterministic, field-assisted switching that fully reproduces all hallmark behaviors of SOT, including polarity control and effective-field characteristics. Our work establishes the Zhang-Li torque as an autonomous switching pathway, redefining the physical picture of current-induced magnetization reversal and providing new design principles for spintronic devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Eclipse Properties and Superhump Evolution in the SU UMa-Type Dwarf Nova Z Cha

The advent of large-scale time-domain surveys provides both opportunities and challenges for understanding accretion disk evolution in cataclysmic variables (CVs). Using high-cadence photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), we investigate the eclipsing SU UMa-type dwarf nova Z Cha. Leveraging eclipses as a natural probe, we examine the evolution of the accretion disk through variations in eclipse depth, O--C of eclipse minima, and positive superhump (PSH) amplitude. During superoutbursts, all three quantities exhibit quasi-periodic modulations with a common period of $\sim$2 days, consistent with the precession period of an eccentric disk. We interpret these correlated variations as evidence of an eccentric, precessing disk: O--C traces the periodic shift of the system's brightness center, while eclipse depth and PSH amplitude vary with the orientation of the disk bulge relative to the line of sight. In quiescence (Sectors 13 and 93), PSHs with periods of $\sim$0.0762 days show linearly decreasing amplitudes and periods, indicating gradual shrinkage of the eccentric disk and a slowing precession. Remarkably, a coherent signal with a period of $\sim$0.0729~days ($ε^{-}\approx-0.02$) appears in the same quiescent intervals. This signal may represent negative superhumps (NSHs) coexisting with PSHs, although an orbital sideband of the PSH cannot presently be excluded with the available data. If confirmed as NSHs, their coexistence with PSHs would challenge the classical tilted-disk model, and could be explained by retrograde apsidal precession of an eccentric disk, where the inner disk precesses retrogradely (NSHs) and the outer disk progradely (PSHs); this interpretation remains to be tested by further observations.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2026

No Detectable One-halo Galactic Conformity Signal with Halo-mass Estimates Consistent with Weak-lensing Constraints

One-halo galactic conformity is the tendency for satellites in halos with quenched centrals to have lower star-formation activity than those in halos with star-forming centrals at fixed halo mass. It is an important probe of the galaxy--halo connection and halo-wide quenching processes that may couple central and satellite evolution. However, its existence remains controversial, because conformity must be measured at fixed halo mass, while halo masses are difficult to estimate accurately. In this Letter, we measure one-halo conformity in SDSS using five stellar-mass-complete samples and three halo-mass estimates: an ML estimate whose star-forming and quenched stellar mass--halo mass relations (SHMRs) agree with independent weak-lensing constraints, and two conventional abundance-matching (AM) estimates. We quantify conformity as the difference in median $\log({\rm sSFR})$ between satellites of star-forming and quenched centrals, using both satellite-level and halo-level statistics. The two AM estimates produce strong positive conformity signals, consistent with previous AM-based measurements, but these signals are not reproduced with the ML halo masses. For the halo-level statistic, the representative AM-based signals are $+0.38\pm0.04$ dex and $+0.23\pm0.04$ dex for the luminosity-ranking and mass-ranking AM halo masses, detected relative to no conformity at about $10σ$ and $6σ$, respectively. In contrast, the ML result is consistent with no conformity, $+0.00\pm0.03$ dex; the satellite-level statistic gives a similar result. Thus, with halo-mass estimates consistent with weak-lensing constraints, we find no detectable one-halo conformity signal in the present SDSS sample, suggesting that the strong AM-based signal is largely driven by halo-mass estimation biases.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

A sharp curvature lower bound for the first exterior p-harmonic Steklov eigenvalue

In this paper, we study the first variational Steklov eigenvalue of the $ p$-Laplace equation on exterior domain $ Ω^{\text{ext}}$ for $ 1< p <n$. If $ Ω$ is convex and $ \partial Ω\in C^{1,1}$, we prove a sharp lower bound in terms of $p$-logarithmic mean of the principal curvatures of $ \partial Ω$. For the linear case $ p=2$, our estimate reduces to the logarithmic mean bound of Bundrock et al. (arXiv:2511.09490). We also derive an upper bound in terms of a boundary isocapacitary constant. The analysis relies on the established finite energy theory on exterior domains, together with a decay estimate for $p$-harmonic extensions.

math.AP↗

arXiv2026

Air-Ground Collaborative Vision-and-Language Navigation via Shared Bird's-Eye Maps

Air-ground collaborative Vision-and-Language Navigation (VLN) pairs an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a global bird's-eye view and an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) with a local first-person view, yet the setting remains largely unexplored: existing training-free methods solve single-agent tasks but offer no collaboration mechanism, and a recent CARLA-Air evaluation found no stable cooperative behavior across five state-of-the-art VLA models; naive semantic communication or bidirectional coupling even degrades performance. We establish AGC-VLN (Air-Ground Collaborative VLN), the first training-free baseline for air-ground collaborative VLN. The key insight is that training-free methods decompose navigation into VLM-based semantic reasoning and deterministic geometric execution, exposing a collaboration interface: the UAV's global view, over which it renders the UGV's reported pose and the VLM-anchored target as CAR/GOAL markers with distance labels, yielding a shared bird's-eye map. From this map, the UGV acquires global spatial context its first-person view cannot provide, plans a road-following path with a frozen VLM, and executes it under closed-loop control; in parallel, the UAV runs 3D-SPF, a spatial-search upgrade of SPF that localizes the target in the downward view and flies toward it. On 100 closed-loop episodes in CARLA-Air's Town10HD scene, AGC-VLN reaches a 77.0% joint success rate, a collaboration gain of +27.0% over the weaker individual agent (the UAV, 50.0%), and exceeds the strongest published single-agent baseline (Travel UAV, 53.0%) by 24.0 points, stemming from the complementarity of the UAV's global view and the UGV's road-following execution. Project page: https://github.com/ZSN2024/AGC-VLN.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2026

Concept-Level Risk and Calibration for Governance in Diffusion Foundation Models

Diffusion models have become a core paradigm for multimedia generation, offering powerful concept-driven controllability for personalization, semantic editing, and selective unlearning. However, as semantic control extends beyond natural-language prompts to learned embeddings and intervention pipelines, the safety and governance of these systems become increasingly difficult to evaluate in a unified manner, especially for safety-sensitive, identity-linked, and other privacy-relevant concepts. Existing studies mainly rely on heuristic audits, adversarial probing, or task-specific erasure benchmarks, and therefore provide limited support for systematic comparison across models, conditioning channels, and deployment conditions. We present a concept-level probabilistic audit and reporting framework for diffusion models. We formalize governance-relevant concept behaviors as Bernoulli semantic events induced by stochastic generation, and define a Concept Risk Operator that maps model-channel configurations to structured risk profiles, enabling comparison across prompting interfaces, learned embedding channels, models, and recorded conditions. We apply sample-level post-hoc calibration and configuration-level risk aggregation, and show that probability error can change thresholded actions near policy boundaries. Experiments on SD1.5, SD2.1, and SDXL reveal consistent yet non-uniform operational risk patterns across concept families, channels, recorded conditions, and shifted protocols. In particular, embedding-based access and obfuscated prompts expose risks often understated by standard-prompt evaluation. A pooled multi-protocol calibrator improves held-out probability reliability, but we do not claim transfer from a standard-only calibrator. CLRC provides a common audit schema for probabilistic and decision-aware governance of multimedia generation systems.

cs.MM↗

arXiv2026

HiMAP: Hilbert Mass-Addressed Parameterization for Multivariate Barycenters and Frećhet Regression

Learning from multivariate distribution-valued data requires both averaging distributions and predicting them from covariates. Positive barycenters and Fréchet regression impose different closure requirements. Regression weights can be negative, yet every fitted value must remain a probability law. We introduce the Hilbert mass-addressed parameterization (HiMAP), which uses balanced recursive median partitions to assign the same probability mass to each binary address across distributions. The common mass address yields two complementary representations. Q-HiMAP averages physical paths and defines a closed-form barycenter for nonnegative weights. Tree-logit HiMAP (TL-HiMAP) maps root geometry and relative split positions to Hilbert coordinates, where every finite affine combination decodes uniquely to a probability law. We establish exact mass coding, an encoder--decoder inverse, completeness, Wasserstein continuity, dense model coverage, and deterministic error decompositions for fixed-size particle outputs. The TL coordinates also give closed-form global and local Fréchet regression and allow each response to be encoded once for repeated prediction. Experiments with certified barycenters, simulated distribution regression, and two NHANES survey cycles show accurate barycenter recovery, algebraically exact TL-coordinate composition with finite particle reconstruction error, competitive predictive loss, and efficient repeated prediction.

stat.ME↗

arXiv2026

Modular and Cost-effective Scanning Photocurrent Microscopy System for Sub-micron characterization of 2D optoelectronic devices

Scanning photocurrent microscopy (SPCM) is a powerful technique for probing local optoelectronic phenomena in 2D semiconducting devices. However, commercial setups remain costly, complex and often lack flexibility and adaptability. In this work, we present a home-built SPCM platform built around the retrofitting of a conventional metallographic microscope by coupling it with different light sources (single-mode fiber-coupled lasers and multimode fiber-coupled high-power LEDs), a motorized XY stage, a digital camera and an electronic readout module. This system enables simultaneous acquisition of photocurrent and reflection intensity maps, requiring minimal modifications of the microscope. We reached sub-micron spatial resolution and high imaging fidelity by correlating photocurrent maps with reflection maps, optical micrographs and AFM topography data on different devices fabricated with different materials (InSe, MoS2, WSe2, Gr), on different substrates (Si/SiO2, compact disk). This work provides a reliable, accessible and reproducible high-performance SPCM platform that can be easily implemented in most laboratories for microscale optoelectronic characterization of 2D devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗