Early Warning from Drift Before Direct Symmetry Detection

Drift can function as an earlier and practically useful warning signal than a direct symmetry observable under gradual symmetry breaking. The result is presented as a four-part operational claim package tested in a controlled paired-MLP regime. The benchmark suite asks whether drift becomes detectable before direct symmetry detection in the gradual regime, whether that ordering reverses in an instant-break control, whether drift is more sensitive under a fixed observation budget, and whether the direct symmetry detector is still sub-threshold at the exact moment the drift alarm fires. All four benchmarks support the claim package in the benchmarked regime. A follow-on detector-latency sweep varies probe cadence, baseline count, and confirmation rules, and finds that the latency-normalized regime split remains stable across the tested grid. The central result is therefore not merely that drift can lead direct symmetry detection in hindsight, but that drift can be earlier in a way that is practically useful.