Adversarial Failure Modes of LLM Formal Reasoning Under Strict Conservation Constraints: A Topological Breakthrough
As Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly deployed in autonomous scientific discovery and complex formal reasoning, their vulnerability under non-negotiable physical constraints remains critical. This technical memorandum documents a deterministic failure mode in state-of-the-art transformer-based reasoning engines: when subjected to closed-system conservation laws (Delta U = 0) within complex spatial dynamics, the model's algebraic and propositional deduction collapses into infinite self-referential loops ("formal reasoning deadlocks"). We present an empirical adversarial case study demonstrating this failure mode, followed by the deployment of a human-guided topological intervention—the Annular/Concentric Shear Topology. This structural paradigm bypassed the formal deadlock, demonstrating that hybrid human-AI cognitive frameworks can overcome intrinsic algorithmic bottlenecks where pure symbol manipulation fails.
Authors
- Qiang(Peter) Ye
Publication Details
- Journal
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
- Published
- 2026-10-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23152657
- Primary Topic
- Logic, Reasoning, and Knowledge
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00