Beyond Coordinate Gauge: An Audited Protocol for Detecting Donor-Specific Functional Fingerprints after Neural Collapse
Independently trained neural networks have no shared neuron-index reference frame, so comparing them requires accounting for coordinate freedom. Neural Collapse sharpens this problem: networks converge toward a shared, low-dimensional geometry, raising the question of whether trajectory-specific functional variation remains distinguishable after convergence. We distinguish three claims - detectability, transplantability, and causal persistence - and address the first. Using five independently trained networks reconstructing Neural Collapse on MNIST, we apply a verified affine-correct alignment mapping donor heads into recipient coordinates. Donor-specific functional fingerprints remain di...
| Authors | Truong Xuan Khanh, Phan Thanh Duc |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.LG |
| Published | 12 July 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 12 July 2026 |
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