mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

The Identifiability and Observability of Deep Normalized Attention

arXiv 2610.09620 ↗First posted 7 Oct 2026cs.LGcited by 0

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Abstract (arXiv)

We study which parameters of deep, unmasked, single-head attention are determined by its input--output function. For known positive nonconstant real-analytic normalizers, the function generically determines the effective scores and combined value map up to the signs induced by even normalizers. This proves the real-analytic case of a conjecture of Henry--Marchetti--Kohn, including softmax. We then classify exceptional fibers under explicit normalizer conditions, identifying when collapse makes later scores unobservable, and establish sharp Taylor orders for local identification. Near simultaneous query/key collapse, we compute the complete native Jacobian decay spectrum on separating finite input banks. For common first nonconstant normalizer degree k, layer i has contact order 2k3i-1-1, with exact multiplicities and kernel dimension. High-precision and automatic differentiation calculations illustrate the resulting loss of numerical sensitivity.

Key facts. No citing papers in the map yet (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 9 of its 26 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 7 Oct 2026.

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References · 9

  1. 2017Attention Is All You Needcited by 59,932
  2. 2019On Identifiability in Transformerscited by 115
  3. 2019On the Expressive Power of Deep Polynomial Neural Networkscited by 65
  4. 2025Everything, Everywhere, All at Once: Is Mechanistic Interpretability Identifiable?cited by 32
  5. 2022Functional dimension of feedforward ReLU neural networkscited by 20
  6. 2020Affine symmetries and neural network identifiabilitycited by 17
  7. 2024Geometry of fibers of the multiplication map of deep linear neural networkscited by 4
  8. 2026Provably Learning Multi-Head Attention with Queriescited by 2
  9. 2026Algebraic Invariants of Lightning Self-Attentioncited by 1

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