Reasoning emerges from constrained inference manifolds in large language models
Reasoning in large language models is predominantly evaluated through labeled benchmarks, conflating task performance with the quality of internal inference. Here we study reasoning as an intrinsic dynamical process by examining the evolution of internal representations during inference. We find that inference-time dynamics consistently self-organize into low-dimensional manifolds embedded within high-dimensional representation spaces. we find that such geometric compression, although pervasive, is not sufficient for stable or reliable reasoning. Instead, effective reasoning dynamics emerge within a constrained structural regime characterized by three conditions: adequate representational...
| Authors | Yanbiao Ma, Fei Luo, Linfeng Zhang et al. |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.LG |
| Published | 2 May 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 2 May 2026 |
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