What is the trade-off between retrieval depth (top-k) and inferencing speed (latency) for 7B models augmented
Abstract
Abstract: Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) improves the factual accuracy of large language models by combining document retrieval with text generation. In biomedical question answering, where correctness is critical, the effect of key hyperparameters has not been studied in a systematic way. This paper presents an evaluation of RAG on the COVID-QA dataset with a focus on three retrievers (dense, BM25, hybrid), two retrieval depths (top- \$mathrm\k\=1,3\$), and optional reranking with a cross encoder. We use a single biomedical prompt and measure exact match (EM), F1 score, semantic similarity, ground
Research Question
What is the trade-off between retrieval depth (top-k) and inferencing speed (latency) for 7B models augmented with hybrid query-based retrievers on the QuAC benchmark?
Verification Level
| Paper level | L2, Source-grounded claims | |
| Source-grounded claims | 9 | |
| Claim record source | not publicly specified |
Descriptive public verification status only; aggregate claim counts are public, but individual claim records are not exposed here.
Truth-Engine Gate Verdict
| Status | Unverified | |
| Gate | Gate 2 — Verification (formal proof or sandbox reproduction) | |
| Reason | Published before the Gate 2 verification pipeline was activated (2026-06-10). No formal proof or sandbox reproduction has been attempted for this record. |
This record has not completed Gate 2 of the verification pipeline (a type-checked Lean4 proof for mathematical claims, or a sealed-sandbox reproduction for empirical claims). It is a literature synthesis only. VERIFIED requires an attached reproducible artifact (Lean4 proof source, or repro script and results) before this status can be set; it is not derived from review score or claim count.
Quality Tier
| Tier | Watchlist | |
| Basis | Review score or public verified-claim signal is below DOI-grade threshold. |
Descriptive public triage only; this tier does not alter current publication or DOI behavior.
Quality Dimensions
| Evidence strength | LOW | |
| Citation grounding | MEDIUM | |
| Uncertainty disclosure | MEDIUM | |
| Reproducibility status | MEDIUM |
Automated triage signals derived from public fields; not human peer review or independent validation.
Correction Record
| Status | CURRENT |
| Correction count | 0 |
| Manifest contract | paper-manifest-v1.1 |
| Correction contract | correction-record-v1 |
Public corrections are additive records. Current status does not claim the synthesis is error-free.
Provenance
| Publisher | Assignee Research |
| Public provenance | L3, Claim aggregate record |
| Report artifact | Available |
| External record | Not registered |
| Claim lineage | 9 aggregate source-grounded claims |
| Review method | Automated multi-reviewer assessment |
| Quality guide | How to read scores, claims, manifests, and evidence links |
| Provenance contract | source-provenance-v1 |
| Note | Machine-generated synthesis of existing literature. Not primary research. |