ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

Ψ-RAG: Hierarchical Abstract Tree for Cross-Document Retrieval

other · 2026-05-04

Researchers propose Ψ-RAG, a tree-based retrieval-augmented generation framework designed to handle cross-document multi-hop queries. Existing Tree-RAG methods, originally built for single-document retrieval, suffer from poor distribution adaptability due to k-means clustering noise, structural isolation lacking cross-document connections, and coarse abstraction that obscures fine details. Ψ-RAG addresses these with a hierarchical abstract tree index built via iterative merging and collapse, adapting to data distributions without prior assumptions, and a multi-granular retrieval agent that intelligently interacts with the index. The framework aims to scale RAG to complex queries spanning multiple documents.

Key facts

  • Ψ-RAG is a tree-RAG framework for cross-document retrieval
  • Existing Tree-RAG methods face challenges in scaling to multi-hop questions
  • Problems include poor distribution adaptability, structural isolation, and coarse abstraction
  • k-means clustering introduces noise due to rigid distribution assumptions
  • Tree indexes lack explicit cross-document connections
  • Ψ-RAG uses a hierarchical abstract tree index built through iterative merging and collapse
  • The index adapts to data distributions without a priori assumptions
  • A multi-granular retrieval agent interacts with the index

Entities

Institutions

  • arXiv

Sources