arXiv:2605. 26179v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Density functional theory (DFT) serves as the basis for computational discovery in materials science and chemistry, yet each calculation demands extensive human effort: adjusting algorithms when convergence stalls, revising plans when unexpected physics emerges, and inserting steps as intermediate results reshape the problem.
By Penghui Yang, Zhonghan Zhang, Yue Li, Xinrun Wang, Yanchen Deng, Yuhao Lu, Bijun Tang, Zheng Liu, Bo An
CompMat-Bench is a new benchmark comprising 94 tasks drawn from recent computational materials science studies, designed to evaluate AI agents on realistic research steps without requiring costly simulations during testing. The benchmark pre‑reproduces inputs and outputs to provide ground truth, allowing agents to be graded with fixed rules rather than an LLM judge. It supports both single tasks and multi‑step workflows, with varying levels of methodological guidance, and shows that while agents can achieve high pass rates on individual tasks, performance drops in longer workflows or with reduced guidance, often due to scientific rather than software errors.
By Chenmu Zhang, Levi Felix, Jun-Jie Zhang, Xingfu Li, Xuelian Jiang, Tao Jiang, Subhendu Mishra, Xixi Qin, Boris Yakobson
The paper introduces AutoMat, a benchmark designed to test large language model (LLM) coding agents on their ability to reproduce claims from computational materials science. AutoMat presents three challenges: reconstructing underspecified procedures, navigating specialized toolchains, and assessing whether the evidence supports a claim. Experiments show that current LLM agents achieve low success rates, with the best setting reaching only 53%, and failures stem mainly from incomplete procedures, methodological deviations, and execution fragility.
By Ziyang Huang, Yi Cao, Ali K. Shargh, Jing Luo, Ruidong Mei, Mohd Zaki, Zhan Liu, Wyatt Bunstine, William Jurayj, Somdatta Goswami, Tyrel McQueen, Michael Shields, Jaafar El-Awady, Paulette Clancy, Benjamin Van Durme, Nicholas Andrews, William Walden, Daniel Khashabi
arXiv:2608. 11224v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Materials research advances through accumulated experience - scripts that work, protocols that are trusted, warnings attached to failed calculations or experiments, and judgement that links a new question to an old result.
By Siyu Liu, Bo Hu, Beilin Ye, He Cao, David J. Srolovitz, Tongqi Wen
arXiv:2605. 27898v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: As LLMs are increasingly deployed as agents, reliable assessment of their agentic capabilities has become essential.
By Pengyu Zhu, Lijun Li, Yaxing Lyu, Qianxin Luo, Jingyi Yang, Yi Liu, Tingfeng Hui, Xinyu Yuan, Li Sun, Sen Su, Jing Shao
arXiv:2512. 11935v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Agentic AI systems increasingly connect large language models (LLMs) to external scientific tools, yet whether and when tool access improves prediction accuracy remains uncharacterized.
By Jaehyung Lee, Justin Ely, Kent Zhang, Akshaya Ajith, Charles Rhys Campbell, Kamal Choudhary
The paper introduces MADA, a Large Language Model–powered multi‑agent framework that coordinates specialized agents—Job Management, Geometry, and Inverse Design—to automate complex design workflows on high‑performance computing systems. In the context of Richtmyer–Meshkov Instability suppression for Inertial Confinement Fusion, MADA iteratively refines designs by launching ensemble simulations, generating meshes, and proposing new designs based on simulation outcomes, achieving improved suppression with minimal manual effort. The framework demonstrates how coordinated reasoning, simulation, and specialized tools can be scaled for rapid, automated design exploration.
By Harshitha Menon, Charles F. Jekel, Kevin Korner, M. Giselle Fernandez-Godino, Brian Gunnarson, Nathan K. Brown, Michael Stees, Walter Nissen, Meir H. Shachar, Dane M. Sterbentz, William J. Schill, Yue Hao, Robert Rieben, William Quadros, Steve Owen, Scott Mitchell, Ismael D. Boureima, Jonathan L. Belof
VeriHarness is a method that enhances verification for large language model agents tackling long‑horizon tasks without needing reference answers at test time. It transforms the base LLM into an agentic verifier by providing a workspace, evidence tools, and reusable verification skills, using disagreement resolution and consensus challenge to evaluate competing claims. Across five benchmarks and two frontier models, VeriHarness outperforms baselines, achieving significant performance gains and demonstrating self‑improvement of verification skills from failure feedback.
By Caiqi Zhang, Rujun Han, Zifeng Wang, Zoey CuiZhu, Nigel Collier, Tomas Pfister, Chen-Yu Lee
arXiv:2609.24165v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Synchrotron data reduction, detector calibration followed by azimuthal integration of terabyte-scale diffraction series, is a multi-step, expert-bound...
By Pawan K. Tripathi, Hemant Sharma, Andrew Chuang, Mathew J. Cherukara
La Agente ’Optima is an agentic framework that builds and manages Bayesian optimization campaigns for self‑driving laboratories, separating large language model reasoning from campaign execution. It maintains a persistent optimization state, allowing consistent repetitive loops and auditable decisions, and only returns control to the agent when interpretation or revision is needed. In tests on digital discovery tasks and physical platforms, it corrected measurement failures, improved yields, and recommended formulation changes, outperforming human‑directed campaigns in cost and material usage.
By Marcel M\"uller, Jiaru Bai, Willi Gottstein, Abhijoy Mandal, Mohammad Nazeri, Elia Savino, Yanlin Fang, Sujoy Das, Sergio Pablo Garc\'ia Carrillo, Yeonghun Kang, Juan B. P\'erez-S\'anchez, Simone Pilon, Martin Fitzner, Timothy No\"el, Frank Gu, Varinia Bernales, Al\'an Aspuru-Guzik
arXiv:2505. 04997v3 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been the main workhorse of computational physics, yet its steep learning curve and fragmented, multi-stage workflow create significant barriers to entry.
By Ling Yue, Nithin Somasekharan, Tingwen Zhang, Yadi Cao, Zhangze Chen, Shimin Di, Shaowu Pan
AgentAudit is an open, extensible framework that evaluates the full lifecycle of AI agents, assessing planning, tool selection, execution, memory, and reasoning across ten dimensions such as instruction integrity, security, and alignment. Unlike existing benchmarks that focus on single aspects, AgentAudit analyzes the entire execution trace to attribute failures to specific stages. The framework was tested on five large language models, revealing significant differences in trustworthiness even among models with similar task‑completion performance.
By Shrey Nag, Sachita, Abhishek Kumar Singh, Lipi Goel, Rajeshwar Singh Janwar