Discovering a Zeta Map Algorithm on Dyck Paths via Mechanistic Interpretability

In three linesResearchers train a small encoder-decoder transformer on the zeta map, a classical bijection in q,t-Catalan combinatorics. Mechanistic interpretability tools (cross-attention analysis, linear probing, causal intervention) reveal a level-based mechanism. Translation into an explicit peak-centered traversal algorithm (scaffolding map) proven equivalent to the zeta map.

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