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arXiv cs.LG
arXiv cs.LG
6/23/2026
Massive Activations Are Architecturally Robust: A Controlled Scratch/Commitment Residual Stream Test

Massive Activations Are Architecturally Robust: A Controlled Scratch/Commitment Residual Stream Test

Short summary

Researchers tested whether massive activations—rare high-magnitude neurons in transformers—are necessary features or removable artifacts. They built Ledger Residuals, which separates computation from output streams, but the model rebuilt the activations anyway. This suggests they serve a genuine functional role rather than being side effects of architectural constraints.

  • •Massive activations (outlier neurons) are persistent features in transformers, not design artifacts
  • •Even with cleaner architecture (Ledger Residuals), models rebuild these features independently
  • •Architectural intervention reveals activations are likely functionally necessary for model operation

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Read full article at arXiv cs.LG

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