{"id":"https://openalex.org/W7167618483","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2607.05339","title":"TREK: Distill to Explore, Reinforce to Refine","display_name":"TREK: Distill to Explore, Reinforce to Refine","publication_year":2026,"publication_date":"2026-07-06","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W7167618483","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2607.05339"},"language":null,"primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2607.05339","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2607.05339","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":"2331-8422","issn":["2331-8422"],"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"Preprint"},"type":"preprint","indexed_in":["datacite"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"green","oa_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2607.05339","any_repository_has_fulltext":true},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5140199347","display_name":"Yuanda Xu","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Xu, Yuanda","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5140190954","display_name":"Zhengze Zhou","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Zhou, Zhengze","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5075423316","display_name":"Kayhan Behdin","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3482-0421"},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Behdin, Kayhan","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5101520719","display_name":"Jelena Markovi\u0107","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-3754"},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Markovic-Voronov, Jelena","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5027724386","display_name":"Hejian Sang","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Sang, Hejian","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5140219021","display_name":"Xiaomin Li","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Li, Xiaomin","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5100439574","display_name":"Wenhui Zhu","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5207-6283"},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Zhu, Wenhui","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5139769640","display_name":"Xinchen Du","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Du, Xinchen","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5037919308","display_name":"Aida Rahmattalabi","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Rahmattalabi, Aida","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5140189807","display_name":"Ran He","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"He, Ran","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5140189434","display_name":"Sen Na","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Na, Sen","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5140199432","display_name":"Zhipeng Wang","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Wang, Zhipeng","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5059864597","display_name":"Alborz Geramifard","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Geramifard, Alborz","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":0,"institutions_distinct_count":0,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":null,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":0,"citation_normalized_percentile":null,"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":null,"last_page":null},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10462","display_name":"Reinforcement Learning in Robotics","score":0.20029999315738678,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10462","display_name":"Reinforcement Learning in Robotics","score":0.20029999315738678,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T12026","display_name":"Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI)","score":0.08839999884366989,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T12535","display_name":"Machine Learning and Data Classification","score":0.08500000089406967,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/imitation","display_name":"Imitation","score":0.6791999936103821},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/task","display_name":"Task (project management)","score":0.6395000219345093},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/key","display_name":"Key (lock)","score":0.5914000272750854},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/simple","display_name":"Simple (philosophy)","score":0.4381999969482422},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/phase","display_name":"Phase (matter)","score":0.3515999913215637}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C126388530","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1131737","display_name":"Imitation","level":2,"score":0.6791999936103821},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780451532","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q759676","display_name":"Task (project management)","level":2,"score":0.6395000219345093},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C26517878","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q228039","display_name":"Key (lock)","level":2,"score":0.5914000272750854},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.5478000044822693},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780586882","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7520643","display_name":"Simple (philosophy)","level":2,"score":0.4381999969482422},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C154945302","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11660","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","level":1,"score":0.3903000056743622},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C44280652","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q104837","display_name":"Phase (matter)","level":2,"score":0.3515999913215637},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C175154964","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q380077","display_name":"Task analysis","level":3,"score":0.3140000104904175},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C119857082","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2539","display_name":"Machine learning","level":1,"score":0.3100000023841858},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C98045186","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q205663","display_name":"Process (computing)","level":2,"score":0.2646999955177307},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C145420912","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q853077","display_name":"Mathematics education","level":1,"score":0.25760000944137573}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2607.05339","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2607.05339","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":"2331-8422","issn":["2331-8422"],"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":null,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"Preprint"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2607.05339","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2607.05339","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":"2331-8422","issn":["2331-8422"],"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"Preprint"},"sustainable_development_goals":[],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"grobid_xml":false,"pdf":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":0,"referenced_works":[],"related_works":[],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Group":[0],"Relative":[1],"Policy":[2],"Optimization":[3],"(GRPO)":[4],"is":[5,60],"effective":[6],"when":[7,101],"the":[8,28,81,111,129,148,198,231],"current":[9,134],"policy":[10],"already":[11],"samples":[12,95],"useful":[13],"reasoning":[14],"trajectories,":[15,69],"but":[16,50],"it":[17,64,70,89,181],"stalls":[18],"on":[19,173,230],"hard":[20],"prompts":[21,109],"whose":[22],"correct":[23],"solution":[24],"modes":[25,146],"lie":[26],"outside":[27],"student's":[29,149],"on-policy":[30,156],"support.":[31],"We":[32],"propose":[33],"TREK":[34,59,106,162,212,235],"(Teacher-Routed":[35],"Exploration":[36],"via":[37],"Forward":[38],"KL),":[39],"a":[40,77,120,138],"simple":[41],"staged":[42],"procedure":[43],"that":[44],"uses":[45],"distillation":[46],"not":[47],"for":[48,51,179],"imitation":[49],"exploration":[52],"support":[53],"expansion.":[54],"A":[55],"key":[56],"advantage":[57],"of":[58],"its":[61],"generality:":[62],"because":[63],"only":[65],"consumes":[66],"verified":[67,125,145],"output":[68],"can":[71,90],"use":[72],"an":[73,206],"external":[74,207],"black-box":[75],"teacher,":[76,79],"white-box":[78],"or":[80],"same":[82],"model":[83],"given":[84],"additional":[85],"inference-time":[86],"context,":[87],"and":[88,151,176,189,203,221],"efficiently":[91],"identify":[92],"which":[93],"hard-prompt":[94],"are":[96,104],"most":[97],"worth":[98],"consolidating":[99],"even":[100],"teacher":[102],"internals":[103],"unavailable.":[105],"first":[107],"identifies":[108],"where":[110],"unaided":[112,244],"student":[113,135],"has":[114],"very":[115],"low":[116],"pass":[117],"rate,":[118],"queries":[119],"proposal":[121],"source":[122],"to":[123,142,154,187,194,219,227,251],"produce":[124],"candidate":[126],"solutions,":[127],"keeps":[128],"top-$r$":[130],"proposals":[131,165],"ranked":[132],"by":[133],"likelihood,":[136],"applies":[137],"short":[139],"forward-KL":[140],"phase":[141],"pull":[143],"those":[144],"into":[147],"support,":[150],"then":[152],"returns":[153],"standard":[155],"GRPO":[157,245],"refinement.":[158],"On":[159,209],"mathematical":[160],"reasoning,":[161],"with":[163],"DeepSeek-V4":[164],"improves":[166,182],"Qwen3":[167],"models":[168],"across":[169],"all":[170],"tested":[171],"scales":[172],"AIME":[174,177,183,190],"2024":[175,191],"2025;":[178],"Qwen3-8B,":[180],"2025":[184],"from":[185,192,217,225],"36.9":[186],"40.3":[188],"47.9":[193],"51.1":[195],"(avg@16),":[196],"while":[197,243],"self-context":[199],"variant":[200],"reaches":[201],"38.5":[202],"49.6":[204],"without":[205],"teacher.":[208],"agentic":[210],"tasks,":[211],"raises":[213],"ALFWorld":[214],"success":[215,223,238],"rate":[216,224],"75.8":[218],"82.8":[220],"ScienceWorld":[222],"12.5":[226],"26.7;":[228],"notably,":[229],"hardest":[232],"task":[233],"types,":[234],"achieves":[236],"high":[237],"rates":[239],"early":[240],"in":[241],"training":[242],"requires":[246],"substantially":[247],"more":[248],"optimization":[249],"steps":[250],"reach":[252],"comparable":[253],"levels.":[254]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-07-28T07:46:37.118299","created_date":"2026-07-08T00:00:00"}