# PhysicsAgentABM: Physics-Guided Generative Agent-Based Modeling

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.06030 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.06030/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Social simulation and multi-agent debate, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use.
- Builds on 38 of its 74 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 5 Feb 2026.

## Placed in

- LLM agents and tool use / [Social simulation and multi-agent debate](https://mlsanity.com/agents/social-simulation-and-multi-agent-debate/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 38)

- [Semi-Supervised Classification with Graph Convolutional Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.02907/) (2016)
- [Graph Attention Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.10903/) (2017)
- [Inductive Representation Learning on Large Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.02216/) (2017)
- [Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.03442/) (2023)
- [A Survey on Large Language Model based Autonomous Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.11432/) (2023)
- [AutoGen: Enabling Next-Gen LLM Applications via Multi-Agent Conversation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.08155/) (2023)
- [MetaGPT: Meta Programming for A Multi-Agent Collaborative Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.00352/) (2023)
- [Improving Factuality and Reasoning in Language Models through Multiagent Debate](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.14325/) (2023)
- [Multi-Agent Actor-Critic for Mixed Cooperative-Competitive Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.02275/) (2017)
- [CAMEL: Communicative Agents for "Mind" Exploration of Large Language Model Society](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.17760/) (2023)
- [Relational inductive biases, deep learning, and graph networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.01261/) (2018)
- [Can You Trust Your Model's Uncertainty? Evaluating Predictive Uncertainty Under Dataset Shift](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.02530/) (2019)
- [Language Models as Zero-Shot Planners: Extracting Actionable Knowledge for Embodied Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.07207/) (2022)
- [DeepAR: Probabilistic Forecasting with Autoregressive Recurrent Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.04110/) (2017)
- [Multimodal Machine Learning: A Survey and Taxonomy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.09406/) (2017)
- [ChatDev: Communicative Agents for Software Development](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.07924/) (2023)
- [Aleatoric and Epistemic Uncertainty in Machine Learning: An Introduction to Concepts and Methods](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.09457/) (2019)
- [Hierarchical Graph Representation Learning with Differentiable Pooling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.08804/) (2018)
- [Large Language Model based Multi-Agents: A Survey of Progress and Challenges](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.01680/) (2024)
- [Unifying Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs: A Roadmap](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.08302/) (2023)
- [Plan-and-Solve Prompting: Improving Zero-Shot Chain-of-Thought Reasoning by Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.04091/) (2023)
- [Temporal Graph Networks for Deep Learning on Dynamic Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.10637/) (2020)
- [Neural Probabilistic Logic Programming in DeepProbLog](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.08194/) (2019)
- [Neural Relational Inference for Interacting Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.04687/) (2018)
- [Neural-Symbolic VQA: Disentangling Reasoning from Vision and Language Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.02338/) (2018)
- [Ghost in the Minecraft: Generally Capable Agents for Open-World Environments via Large Language Models with Text-based Knowledge and Memory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.17144/) (2023)
- [LLM Agents Grounded in Self-Reports Enable General-Purpose Simulation of Individuals](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.10109/) (2024)
- [Language is All a Graph Needs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.07134/) (2023)
- [Spatial-Temporal Graph ODE Networks for Traffic Flow Forecasting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.12931/) (2021)
- [Structured Inference Networks for Nonlinear State Space Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.09869/) (2016)

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [CASPIAN: Online Detection and Attribution of Cascade Attacks in LLM Multi-Agent Systems via Cross-Channel Causal Monitoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.19240/) (2026)
- [Do Agent Societies Develop Intellectual Elites? The Hidden Power Laws of Collective Cognition in LLM Multi-Agent Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.02674/) (2026)
- [GraphDC: A Divide-and-Conquer Multi-Agent System for Scalable Graph Algorithm Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.06671/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Large language model (LLM)-based multi-agent systems enable expressive agent reasoning but are expensive to scale and poorly calibrated for timestep-aligned state-transition simulation, while classical agent-based models (ABMs) offer interpretability but struggle to integrate rich individual-level signals and non-stationary behaviors. We propose PhysicsAgentABM, which shifts inference to behaviorally coherent agent clusters: state-specialized symbolic agents encode mechanistic transition priors, a multimodal neural transition model captures temporal and interaction dynamics, and uncertainty-aware epistemic fusion yields calibrated cluster-level transition distributions. Individual agents then stochastically realize transitions under local constraints, decoupling population inference from entity-level variability. We further introduce ANCHOR, an LLM agent-driven clustering strategy based on cross-contextual behavioral responses and a novel contrastive loss, reducing LLM calls by up to 6-8 times. Experiments across public health, finance, and social sciences show consistent gains in event-time accuracy and calibration over mechanistic, neural, and LLM baselines. By re-architecting generative ABM around population-level inference with uncertainty-aware neuro-symbolic fusion, PhysicsAgentABM establishes a new paradigm for scalable and calibrated simulation with LLMs.