Efficient prediction of potential energy surface and physical properties with Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks

The application of machine learning methodologies for predicting properties within materials science has garnered significant attention. Among recent advancements, Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (KANs) have emerged as a promising alternative to traditional Multi-Layer Perceptrons (MLPs). This study evaluates the impact of substituting MLPs with KANs within three established machine learning frameworks: Allegro, Neural Equivariant Interatomic Potentials (NequIP), and the Edge-Based Tensor Prediction Graph Neural Network (ETGNN). Our results demonstrate that the integration of KANs generally yields enhanced prediction accuracies. Specifically, replacing MLPs with KANs in the output blocks leads to notable improvements in accuracy and, in certain scenarios, also results in reduced training times. Furthermore, employing KANs exclusively in the output block facilitates faster inference and improved computational efficiency relative to utilizing KANs throughout the entire model. The selection of an optimal basis function for KANs is found to be contingent upon the particular problem at hand. Our results demonstrate the strong potential of KANs in enhancing machine learning potentials and material property predictions.