A Formal Proof of Complexity Bounds on Diophantine Equations

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bayer, Jonas, David, Marco
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866909814197583872
author Bayer, Jonas
David, Marco
author_facet Bayer, Jonas
David, Marco
contents We present a universal construction of Diophantine equations with bounded complexity in Isabelle/HOL. This is a formalization of our own work in number theory. Hilbert's Tenth Problem was answered negatively by Yuri Matiyasevich, who showed that there is no general algorithm to decide whether an arbitrary Diophantine equation has a solution. However, the problem remains open when generalized to the field of rational numbers, or contrarily, when restricted to Diophantine equations with bounded complexity, characterized by the number of variables $ν$ and the degree $δ$. If every Diophantine set can be represented within the bounds $(ν, δ)$, we say that this pair is universal, and it follows that the corresponding class of equations is undecidable. In a separate mathematics article, we have determined the first non-trivial universal pair for the case of integer unknowns. In this paper, we contribute a formal verification of the main construction required to establish said universal pair. In doing so, we markedly extend the Isabelle AFP entry on multivariate polynomials, formalize parts of a number theory textbook, and develop classical theory on Diophantine equations in Isabelle. Additionally, our work includes metaprogramming infrastructure designed to efficiently handle complex definitions of multivariate polynomials. Our mathematical draft has been formalized while the mathematical research was ongoing, and benefitted largely from the help of the theorem prover. We reflect how the close collaboration between mathematician and computer is an uncommon but promising modus operandi.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_16963
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Formal Proof of Complexity Bounds on Diophantine Equations
Bayer, Jonas
David, Marco
Logic in Computer Science
Number Theory
We present a universal construction of Diophantine equations with bounded complexity in Isabelle/HOL. This is a formalization of our own work in number theory. Hilbert's Tenth Problem was answered negatively by Yuri Matiyasevich, who showed that there is no general algorithm to decide whether an arbitrary Diophantine equation has a solution. However, the problem remains open when generalized to the field of rational numbers, or contrarily, when restricted to Diophantine equations with bounded complexity, characterized by the number of variables $ν$ and the degree $δ$. If every Diophantine set can be represented within the bounds $(ν, δ)$, we say that this pair is universal, and it follows that the corresponding class of equations is undecidable. In a separate mathematics article, we have determined the first non-trivial universal pair for the case of integer unknowns. In this paper, we contribute a formal verification of the main construction required to establish said universal pair. In doing so, we markedly extend the Isabelle AFP entry on multivariate polynomials, formalize parts of a number theory textbook, and develop classical theory on Diophantine equations in Isabelle. Additionally, our work includes metaprogramming infrastructure designed to efficiently handle complex definitions of multivariate polynomials. Our mathematical draft has been formalized while the mathematical research was ongoing, and benefitted largely from the help of the theorem prover. We reflect how the close collaboration between mathematician and computer is an uncommon but promising modus operandi.
title A Formal Proof of Complexity Bounds on Diophantine Equations
topic Logic in Computer Science
Number Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.16963