Bulk-edge sticking beyond the Perron mode in Gaussian softmax attention

Source abstract

We study row-softmax self-attention with independent Gaussian query and key weights in the proportional regime, at fixed inverse temperature. Hayase, Collins, and Karakida proved Gaussian equivalence for the empirical squared singular-value distribution after removal of the Perron direction. A global law alone does not exclude finitely many nonleading outliers. We prove that no such outliers persist: the rescaled squared singular value $\ell s_k(A)^2$ converges in probability to the upper edge of their bulk law for every fixed $k\ge 2$. In fact, this convergence is uniform over any deterministic sublinear number of leading non-Perron indices. The proof uses an exact decomposition of the softmax normalization, conditions on the key matrix, identifies the conditional covariance exactly with a diagonally conjugated inner-product kernel, linearizes that kernel in operator norm, and applies the outside-support local law of Fan, Ma, Paquette, and Wang. A separate stability argument identifies the finite conditional deformed Marchenko-Pastur edge with the limiting bulk edge. We also derive a scalar formula for that edge throughout the proportional regime and recover the explicit square-model formula of Hayase, Collins, and Karakida, including its physical branch.