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Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
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image/svg+xml art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos Open Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svg art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos http://www.plos.org/
ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: ZENODO
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Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
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Monitoring Verifier Health in Test-Time Scaling Using Stochastic Power Metrics

Authors: Cantrell, Cole;

Monitoring Verifier Health in Test-Time Scaling Using Stochastic Power Metrics

Abstract

Test-time scaling methods such as LLM-as-a-Verifier (Mirhoseini et al., 2026) improve answer selection quality by using log-probability rank signals to score candidate outputs. These methods assume the verifier remains reliably discriminative throughout the sampling process. We identify a gap: no existing method monitors whether the verifier is currently healthy — whether it is still producing meaningful discriminative signal or has begun to plateau, drift, or produce flat rankings. This paper proposes applying the stochastic power metric P(t) = E(t) × W(t) as a real-time verifier health signal. E(t) measures whether the verifier's current score spread exceeds its own adaptive expected spread. W(t) measures consistency of that outperformance. When P(t) drops below a threshold, the verifier has lost discrimination power and continued sampling yields diminishing returns. In a stylized simulation calibrated to published TerminalBench 2.0 results, the power metric correctly identifies verifier plateau states and reduces unnecessary candidate generation by 84–96% with quality scores of 0.944–0.976 relative to full-budget verification. This framing is consistent with sequential decision-making theory: the verifier health signal is an instance of the Resource Commitment Principle applied to the verification layer of test-time scaling. 

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average