Paper ID: 2312.10794

A mathematical perspective on Transformers

Borjan Geshkovski, Cyril Letrouit, Yury Polyanskiy, Philippe Rigollet

Transformers play a central role in the inner workings of large language models. We develop a mathematical framework for analyzing Transformers based on their interpretation as interacting particle systems, which reveals that clusters emerge in long time. Our study explores the underlying theory and offers new perspectives for mathematicians as well as computer scientists.

Submitted: Dec 17, 2023