Targeted Reduction of Causal Models

Why does a phenomenon occur? Addressing this question is central to most scientific inquiries and often relies on simulations based on differential equations. As scientific models become more intricate, deciphering the causes behind phenomena in high-dimensional spaces of interconnected variables becomes increasingly challenging. We introduce Targeted Causal Reduction (TCR), a method for condensing complex intervenable models into a concise set of causal factors that explain a specific target phenomenon. We propose an information theoretic objective to learn TCR from interventional data of simulations, establish identifiability for continuous variables under shift interventions and present a practical algorithm for learning TCRs. Its ability to generate interpretable high-level explanations from complex models is demonstrated on toy and mechanical systems, illustrating its potential to assist scientists in the study of complex phenomena in a broad range of disciplines.