# IRLab@iKAT24: Learned Sparse Retrieval with Multi-aspect LLM Query Generation for Conversational Search

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.14739 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.14739/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 8 of its 23 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 22 Nov 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [ALBERT: A Lite BERT for Self-supervised Learning of Language Representations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.11942/) (2019)
- [DeBERTa: Decoding-enhanced BERT with Disentangled Attention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.03654/) (2020)
- [DeBERTaV3: Improving DeBERTa using ELECTRA-Style Pre-Training with Gradient-Disentangled Embedding Sharing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.09543/) (2021)
- [SPLADE: Sparse Lexical and Expansion Model for First Stage Ranking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.05720/) (2021)
- [CHIQ: Contextual History Enhancement for Improving Query Rewriting in Conversational Search](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.05013/) (2024)
- [TREC iKAT 2023: A Test Collection for Evaluating Conversational and Interactive Knowledge Assistants](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.02637/) (2024)
- [Generating Multi-Aspect Queries for Conversational Search](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.19302/) (2024)
- [Naver Labs Europe (SPLADE) @ TREC Deep Learning 2022](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.12574/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Investigating LLM Variability in Personalized Conversational Information Retrieval](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.03795/) (2025)
- [Adaptive Personalized Conversational Information Retrieval](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.08634/) (2025)
- [uva-irlab-conv at SemEval-2026 Task 8: Multi-Turn RAG with Learned Sparse Retrieval and Listwise Reranking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.11945/) (2026)
- [RALI@iKAT 2026: Retrieval-aware User Profile Denoising via Personalized Conversational Dense Retrieval](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.17673/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The Interactive Knowledge Assistant Track (iKAT) 2024 focuses on advancing conversational assistants, able to adapt their interaction and responses from personalized user knowledge. The track incorporates a Personal Textual Knowledge Base (PTKB) alongside Conversational AI tasks, such as passage ranking and response generation. Query Rewrite being an effective approach for resolving conversational context, we explore Large Language Models (LLMs), as query rewriters. Specifically, our submitted runs explore multi-aspect query generation using the MQ4CS framework, which we further enhance with Learned Sparse Retrieval via the SPLADE architecture, coupled with robust cross-encoder models. We also propose an alternative to the previous interleaving strategy, aggregating multiple aspects during the reranking phase. Our findings indicate that multi-aspect query generation is effective in enhancing performance when integrated with advanced retrieval and reranking models. Our results also lead the way for better personalization in Conversational Search, relying on LLMs to integrate personalization within query rewrite, and outperforming human rewrite performance.
