English

DAT: Dynamic Alpha Tuning for Hybrid Retrieval in Retrieval-Augmented Generation

Information Retrieval 2025-04-01 v1

Abstract

Hybrid retrieval techniques in Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems enhance information retrieval by combining dense and sparse (e.g., BM25-based) retrieval methods. However, existing approaches struggle with adaptability, as fixed weighting schemes fail to adjust to different queries. To address this, we propose DAT (Dynamic Alpha Tuning), a novel hybrid retrieval framework that dynamically balances dense retrieval and BM25 for each query. DAT leverages a large language model (LLM) to evaluate the effectiveness of the top-1 results from both retrieval methods, assigning an effectiveness score to each. It then calibrates the optimal weighting factor through effectiveness score normalization, ensuring a more adaptive and query-aware weighting between the two approaches. Empirical results show that DAT consistently significantly outperforms fixed-weighting hybrid retrieval methods across various evaluation metrics. Even on smaller models, DAT delivers strong performance, highlighting its efficiency and adaptability.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2503.23013,
  title  = {DAT: Dynamic Alpha Tuning for Hybrid Retrieval in Retrieval-Augmented Generation},
  author = {Hsin-Ling Hsu and Jengnan Tzeng},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.23013},
  year   = {2025}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T22:38:53.074Z