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The Novelty Horizon H_N: Why Large Language Models Fail to Generate Scientific Data beyond Their Training Distribution
Abstract · v1
Large Language Models (LLMs) lack physical grounding and extrapolation. This paper formalises the Novelty Horizon as tasks needing extrapolation beyond training support, causal reasoning absent from learned correlations, or post-frontier information. A forensic analysis tests LLMs on unguided, guided, and ground-truth data from an underrepresented diode-clamped short-circuit experiment using temporal, spectral, and statistical validation against a first-principles Modified Ohm's Law. Both script-based approaches fail catastrophically with physical and spectral inconsistencies, extreme statistical pathologies, zero Generative Fidelity Score, and linear-regime outputs. Direct prompting corroborates distinct failure modes. This paper introduces the Past Information Boundary and physics-based authentication. LLM data generation cannot extrapolate past the Novelty Horizon essential for novel discovery. Hybrid neuro-symbolic systems must preserve human causal reasoning and experimental design.
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