TokenBlowUp: Resolving Representational Singularities in LLM Token Spaces via Monoidal Transformations

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Zhao, Dongfang
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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_version_ 1866911241022210048
author Zhao, Dongfang
author_facet Zhao, Dongfang
contents Recent work has provided compelling evidence challenging the foundational manifold hypothesis for the token embedding spaces of Large Language Models (LLMs). These findings reveal the presence of geometric singularities around polysemous tokens, which can lead to representational instability. Existing methodologies, which presuppose a smooth data manifold, are ill-equipped to address such intrinsic structural flaws. In this paper, we formalize this problem in the language of scheme theory and propose a rigorous resolution by applying the scheme-theoretic blow-up at each singular point. This procedure replaces a singular point in the ambient affine scheme with its exceptional divisor, which we identify as a canonical geometric space -- a projective space of directions -- that houses the disambiguated semantic meanings of the token. This process of ``representational desingularization'' constructs a new geometric landscape for embeddings. We prove a formal theorem guaranteeing the geometric regularization of this new space, showing that the original pathologies are resolved. Finally, we outline the architectural implications of our framework, arguing for a paradigm shift from static look-ups to dynamic, geometrically-grounded computation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_19747
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle TokenBlowUp: Resolving Representational Singularities in LLM Token Spaces via Monoidal Transformations
Zhao, Dongfang
Algebraic Geometry
Machine Learning
Recent work has provided compelling evidence challenging the foundational manifold hypothesis for the token embedding spaces of Large Language Models (LLMs). These findings reveal the presence of geometric singularities around polysemous tokens, which can lead to representational instability. Existing methodologies, which presuppose a smooth data manifold, are ill-equipped to address such intrinsic structural flaws. In this paper, we formalize this problem in the language of scheme theory and propose a rigorous resolution by applying the scheme-theoretic blow-up at each singular point. This procedure replaces a singular point in the ambient affine scheme with its exceptional divisor, which we identify as a canonical geometric space -- a projective space of directions -- that houses the disambiguated semantic meanings of the token. This process of ``representational desingularization'' constructs a new geometric landscape for embeddings. We prove a formal theorem guaranteeing the geometric regularization of this new space, showing that the original pathologies are resolved. Finally, we outline the architectural implications of our framework, arguing for a paradigm shift from static look-ups to dynamic, geometrically-grounded computation.
title TokenBlowUp: Resolving Representational Singularities in LLM Token Spaces via Monoidal Transformations
topic Algebraic Geometry
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.19747