Hu Jiao, Cui Jiaxu, Yang Bo
College of Computer Science and Technology, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
Key Laboratory of Symbolic Computation and Knowledge Engineering of Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 6;16(1):6226. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-61575-7.
Discovering governing equations of complex network dynamics is a fundamental challenge in contemporary science with rich data, which can uncover the hidden patterns and mechanisms of the formation and evolution of complex phenomena in various fields and assist in decision-making. In this work, we develop a universal computational tool that can automatically, efficiently, and accurately learn the symbolic patterns of changes in complex system states by combining the excellent fitting capability of deep learning with the equation inference ability of pre-trained symbolic regression. We perform extensive and intensive experimental verifications on more than ten representative scenarios from fields such as physics, biochemistry, ecology, and epidemiology. The results demonstrate the remarkable effectiveness and efficiency of our tool compared to state-of-the-art symbolic regression techniques for network dynamics. The application to real-world systems including global epidemic transmission and pedestrian movements has verified its practical applicability. We believe that our tool can serve as a universal solution to dispel the fog of hidden mechanisms of changes in complex phenomena, advance toward interpretability, and inspire further scientific discoveries.
发现复杂网络动力学的控制方程是当代科学面临的一项基本挑战,丰富的数据可以揭示各个领域复杂现象形成和演化的隐藏模式及机制,并有助于决策。在这项工作中,我们开发了一种通用计算工具,通过将深度学习出色的拟合能力与预训练符号回归的方程推理能力相结合,能够自动、高效且准确地学习复杂系统状态变化的符号模式。我们对来自物理、生物化学、生态和流行病学等领域的十多个代表性场景进行了广泛而深入的实验验证。结果表明,与用于网络动力学的最先进符号回归技术相比,我们的工具具有显著的有效性和效率。在包括全球疫情传播和行人运动等现实世界系统中的应用验证了其实际适用性。我们相信,我们的工具可以作为一种通用解决方案,驱散复杂现象变化隐藏机制的迷雾,朝着可解释性迈进,并激发进一步的科学发现。