Discovering network dynamics with neural symbolic regression

Zihan Yu, Jingtao Ding, Yong Li

Abstract: Network dynamics are fundamental to analyzing the properties of high-dimensional complex systems and understanding their behavior. Despite the accumulation of observational data across many domains, mathematical models exist in only a few areas with clear underlying principles. Here we show that a neural symbolic regression approach can bridge this gap by automatically deriving formulas from data. Our method reduces searches on high-dimensional networks to equivalent one-dimensional systems and uses pretrained neural networks to guide accurate formula discovery. Applied to ten benchmark systems, it recovers the correct forms and parameters of underlying dynamics. In two empirical natural systems, it corrects existing models of gene regulation and microbial communities, reducing prediction error by 59.98% and 55.94%, respectively. In epidemic transmission across human mobility networks of various scales, it discovers dynamics that exhibit the same power-law distribution of node correlations across scales and reveal country-level differences in intervention effects. These results demonstrate that machine-driven discovery of network dynamics can enhance understandings of complex systems and advance the development of complexity science. This study presents a neural symbolic regression approach that autonomously uncovers network dynamics from data. It was demonstrated to refine existing models of gene regulation and ecology, and identify epidemic transmission patterns across spatial scales to yield scientific insights.

External IDs:doi:10.1038/s43588-025-00893-8