Probabilistic Focal Search: Accelerating Bounded-Suboptimal Search via Lower-Bound Advancement
arXiv cs.AI3d4 min read
arXiv:2609.10584v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Bounded-suboptimal search seeks a solution within a factor $w$ of optimal while reducing search effort. Focal Search (FS) uses heuristic guidance within FOCAL, the frontier nodes eligible under the threshold $w f_{\min}$, but its deterministic policy may leave $f_{\min}$ unchanged for many expansions. We introduce Probabilistic Focal Search (PFS), which follows the FS guided choice with probability $p$ and expands a minimum-$f$ OPEN node with probability $1-p$. The latter branch encourages the lower bound to advance, enlarging FOCAL and admitting