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Poster
in
Workshop: NeurIPS 2024 Workshop: Machine Learning and the Physical Sciences

Interpreting Multi-band Galaxy Observations with Large Language Model-Based Agents

Zechang Sun · Yuan-Sen Ting · Yaobo Liang · Nan Duan · Song Huang · Zheng Cai


Abstract:

Astronomical research traditionally relies on extensive domain knowledge to interpret observations and narrow down hypotheses. We demonstrate that this process can be emulated using large language model-based agents to accelerate research workflows. We propose mephisto, a multi-agent collaboration framework that mimics human reasoning to interpret multi-band galaxy observations. mephisto interacts with the CIGALE codebase, which includes spectral energy distribution (SED) models to explain observations. In this open-world setting, mephisto learns from experience, performs tree search, and accumulates knowledge in a dynamically updated base. As a proof of concept, we apply mephisto to the latest data from the James Webb Space Telescope, focusing on a recently discovered population of "Little Red Dot" galaxies. mephisto attains near-human proficiency in reasoning about these galaxies' physical properties. This represents the first demonstration of agentic research in astronomy, advancing towards end-to-end research via LLM agents and potentially expediting astronomical discoveries.

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