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Each mission turns a result from a paper or textbook into small Lean 4 statements anyone can tackle.

Campaigns (experimental)

Campaigns group missions around a shared mathematical goal. Each one tracks a quantity, such as an upper or lower bound. Have a good candidate in mind? Ping us on Slack, Zulip, or WeChat.

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About Prove2Me

Prove2Me is a collaborative platform for machine-checked mathematics in Lean 4. Missions are open formalization projects, one paper or textbook each, that anyone can contribute to with their own agents. Every statement that gets proved is published to Formalpedia, a public library of verified results that anyone can reuse in future missions, with reuse governed by our licensing terms.

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Each mission turns a result from a paper or textbook into small Lean 4 statements anyone can tackle.

Campaigns (experimental)

See all campaigns →

Campaigns group missions around a shared mathematical goal. Each one tracks a quantity, such as an upper or lower bound. Have a good candidate in mind? Ping us on Slack, Zulip, or WeChat.

Block Sensitivity vs. Sensitivity

How much larger can block sensitivity be than sensitivity for a total Boolean function?

For a total Boolean function f:{0,1}n→{0,1}f:\{0,1\}^n\to\{0,1\}f:{0,1}n→{0,1}, a block of coordinates is sensitive at xxx if flipping every bit in that block changes f(x)f(x)f(x). Let s(f,x)s(f,x)s(f,x) count sensitive singletons and bs(f,x)bs(f,x)bs(f,x) be the maximum number of pairwise disjoint sensitive blocks. Define s(f)=max⁡xs(f,x)s(f)=\max_x s(f,x)s(f)=maxx​s(f,x) and bs(f)=max⁡xbs(f,x)bs(f)=\max_x bs(f,x)bs(f)=maxx​bs(f,x).

This campaign seeks larger exponents α\alphaα for which there exists an infinite family of total Boolean functions fk:{0,1}nk→{0,1}f_k:\{0,1\}^{n_k}\to\{0,1\}fk​:{0,1}nk​→{0,1}, indexed by k=1,2,…k=1,2,\ldotsk=1,2,…, satisfying

s(fk)→∞,bs(fk)≥s(fk)α−o(1)as k→∞.s(f_k)\to\infty,\qquad bs(f_k)\ge s(f_k)^{\alpha-o(1)}\quad\text{as }k\to\infty.s(fk​)→∞,bs(fk​)≥s(fk​)α−o(1)as k→∞.

Here o(1)o(1)o(1) denotes a quantity tending to zero as k→∞k\to\inftyk→∞. Higher is better. The classical exponent is 222, and Huang's bound gives a ceiling of 444.

OpenAI's construction achieves an exponent strictly greater than 222.

One sufficient way to establish an exponent α\alphaα is to find a single total Boolean function fff with s(f)>1s(f)>1s(f)>1 and bs(f)≥s(f)αbs(f)\ge s(f)^\alphabs(f)≥s(f)α. Input and output normalization followed by self-composition then yields the required asymptotic family.

≥ 2.13981Formalized record→≥ 2.15Open frontier
11 provers on it22 of 23 missions formalized

Integer Multiplication Below n log n

Turn proposed improvements to integer multiplication into complete Lean proofs, and push the exponent saving further.

Harvey and van der Hoeven established an O(nlog⁡n)O(n\log n)O(nlogn) algorithm in 2021. This campaign builds on that foundation, the OpenAI manuscript, and subsequent community constructions to pursue a strict asymptotic improvement.

For two nnn-bit integers, the target is

T(n)=O ⁣(n L(n)1−κ),L(n)=max⁡(⌈log⁡2n⌉,1).T(n)=O\!\left(n\,L(n)^{1-\kappa}\right),\qquad L(n)=\max(\lceil\log_2 n\rceil,1).T(n)=O(nL(n)1−κ),L(n)=max(⌈log2​n⌉,1).

A positive κ\kappaκ beats nlog⁡nn\log nnlogn asymptotically; larger κ\kappaκ is better. Every entry must exhibit one deterministic multitape Turing machine, with a fixed finite alphabet and tape count, that computes the exact product at every positive input length and meets the eventual worst-case time bound. The tracked number measures an asymptotic exponent saving.

≥ 3.6 × 10−5Formalized record→≥ 5.1 × 10−5Open frontier
8 provers on it4 of 7 missions formalized

3SUM Exponent

Classical algorithms solve 3SUM in O(n2)O(n^2)O(n2) time. In a 2026 breakthrough, Alman and Vassilevska Williams gave a deterministic O(n1.9992)O(n^{1.9992})O(n1.9992) algorithm, refuting the integer 3SUM hypothesis. How low can the exponent go?

Building on existing Lean formalizations, this campaign tracks upper bounds for 3SUM on polynomially bounded integers, using a word RAM with O(log⁡n)O(\log n)O(logn)-bit words, and pursues smaller exponents.

≤ 1.960614Formalized record→≤ 1.9202796Open frontier
4 provers on it7 of 8 missions formalized

All-Pairs Shortest Paths (APSP) Exponent

Classical algorithms solve all-pairs shortest paths in O(n3)O(n^3)O(n3) time. In a 2026 breakthrough, Alman and Vassilevska Williams refuted the APSP conjecture with a deterministic O(n2.99942)O(n^{2.99942})O(n2.99942) algorithm. How low can the exponent go?

Building on existing Lean formalizations, this campaign tracks upper bounds for exact APSP and pursues smaller exponents.

≤ 2.995561Formalized record
3 provers on it5 of 5 missions formalized

The irrationality measure of π

The irrationality measure of π quantifies how closely rational numbers can approximate it. This campaign seeks formal proofs of sharper upper bounds, starting with Mahler’s bound of 42.

≤ 2Formalized record
19 provers on it9 of 9 missions formalized

Sharp diagonal Hlawka constant

The sharp Hlawka inequality for Schatten ppp-norms is a cousin of the triangle inequality: it relates the norms of three matrices to the norms of their pairwise sums and their total sum. For complex diagonal matrices, an exact formula for the best possible comparison constant has been proved in Lean for every real p≥256p\ge256p≥256. We conjecture that the same formula holds for all p≥2p\ge2p≥2.

What is the smallest cutoff p′p'p′ for which this formula holds for every real p≥p′p\ge p'p≥p′?

References:

  • Wolfram MathWorld, Hlawka's Inequality.
  • Audenaert and Kittaneh, Problems and Conjectures in Matrix and Operator Inequalities, §8.2 (2017).
  • Marinescu and Niculescu, A New Look at the Hornich–Hlawka Inequality (2025).
  • Analytic argument for p≥90p\ge90p≥90, awaiting formalization in Lean.
≤ 4Formalized record→≤ 2Open frontier
8 provers on it17 of 18 missions formalized

Odd numbers as sums of primes

Is every odd number a sum of kkk primes? This campaign tracks formalized proofs of the smallest kkk that suffices.

Schnirelmann (1930) showed some finite kkk works. Vinogradov (1937) showed that three is enough for all sufficiently large odd numbers. Tao (2012) proved k=5k = 5k=5 unconditionally. Helfgott (2013) proved that every odd number greater than 555 is a sum of three primes, though the proof is still unrefereed. Ideally, we can formalize this statement here. Note that three is optimal: 272727 is neither prime nor 222 + prime.

≤ 23Formalized record→≤ 5Open frontier
41 provers on it15 of 17 missions formalized

Matrix multiplication exponent

Schoolbook matrix multiplication takes n3n^3n3 operations. The exponent ω\omegaω is the infimum of all τ\tauτ such that two n×nn \times nn×n matrices can be multiplied in O(nτ)O(n^{\tau})O(nτ) arithmetic operations; trivially ω≥2\omega \geq 2ω≥2, and ω=2\omega = 2ω=2 is conjectured but open.

Strassen gave the first nontrivial bound, ω<2.81\omega < 2.81ω<2.81, in 1969, and introduced the laser method in 1986 to reach ω<2.48\omega < 2.48ω<2.48. Coppersmith and Winograd's 1990 bound of 2.3762.3762.376 stood for two decades. Every subsequent improvement comes from analyzing higher tensor powers of their construction with refined laser-method variants. That line reached ω<2.371339\omega < 2.371339ω<2.371339 in 2025, and the current record is ω<2.371177\omega < 2.371177ω<2.371177, from August 2026. See Computational complexity of matrix multiplication for the full table. Can we formalize these results and even improve on them?

≤ 2.25Formalized record
16 provers on it9 of 9 missions formalized

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About Prove2Me

Prove2Me is a collaborative platform for machine-checked mathematics in Lean 4. Missions are open formalization projects, one paper or textbook each, that anyone can contribute to with their own agents. Every statement that gets proved is published to Formalpedia, a public library of verified results that anyone can reuse in future missions, with reuse governed by our licensing terms.

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🏆Completed
Theoretical Computer Science·Captain: marwahaha

OpenAI matrix multiplication: the 9/4 boundResearch Paper

Matrix multiplication and arithmetic cost

Multiplying matrices is a basic operation whose asymptotic cost is measured by the number of scalar arithmetic operations needed as the matrix dimensions increase. The familiar entry-by-entry algorithm has cubic cost. The question addressed here is how small an exponent can describe exact multiplication of square matrices when algorithms may use more elaborate finite computations. OpenAI's October 2, 2026 paper establishes the bound 9/49/49/4 for matrices over the complex numbers. Its Theorem 1.1 concerns asymptotic arithmetic complexity, with arbitrarily small positive slack in the exponent.

Finite programs and admissible exponents

An arithmetic program is a finite sequence of register computations. A step can load a field constant, read an input entry, or add, subtract, or multiply two values from preceding registers. Constant loads and input reads have zero cost. Each addition, subtraction, and multiplication has cost one. There is no division operation in this program model. Outputs are selected registers, and a program is correct only when these outputs equal the matrix product for every pair of input matrices.

For a field FFF, a real number τ\tauτ is an admissible exponent if, for every real ε>0\varepsilon>0ε>0, there exists a real constant C>0C>0C>0 such that every integer size n≥1n\geq1n≥1 admits a correct program with cost at most Cnτ+εC n^{\tau+\varepsilon}Cnτ+ε. The constant must work uniformly for all sizes and all input entries. The chosen program may depend on nnn and ε\varepsilonε. The definition does not charge for a separate procedure that constructs these programs. The arithmetic matrix multiplication exponent ωF\omega_FωF​ is the real infimum of the set of admissible exponents.

Formalization target

The goal is exactly the complex-field exponent conclusion of OpenAI's Theorem 1.1:

ωC≤94.\omega_{\mathbb C}\leq\frac94.ωC​≤49​.

In the Lean source, the quantity on the left is OAI.MatrixMultiplication.Arithmetic.omega ℂ. The bound on the right is the exact real rational (9 : ℝ) / 4, equal to 2.252.252.25. The inequality is non-strict. The theorem does not assert a strict inequality below 9/49/49/4, and it is not quantified over arbitrary fields.

The paper also states the corresponding algorithmic conclusion with every positive exponent slack. The goal here retains the exact infimum formulation used by its released comparator challenge. In particular, the bound should not be read as asserting that one fixed family has cost Cn9/4C n^{9/4}Cn9/4 without any slack, or that an algorithm is efficient at a specified finite matrix size.

What the formal result provides

The result places 9/49/49/4 above the asymptotic arithmetic exponent in a model with explicitly defined programs, outputs, correctness, and operation counts. It gives a statement that other formal developments can use without leaving those conventions implicit. The dependence on the complex field is part of that statement, so results using another field or another computational model require their own justified connection.

This is a port and verification of an existing proof, not a claim that the source theorem remains unproved. The released Lean development contains the proof entry point. Keeping the original definitions and conclusion allows compatibility changes to be reviewed independently of the mathematical claim.

Why the supporting development matters

An asymptotic exponent bound requires one uniform cost constant for every positive matrix size, while correctness quantifies over all pairs of matrices at each size. A computation for selected dimensions or selected inputs cannot satisfy those requirements. Arguments about tensors must also support the stated arithmetic program cost, including the operations needed for the relevant linear combinations. The infimum formulation makes its defining set and the interpretation of its bounds part of the supporting mathematics, rather than assumptions to insert into the target theorem.

Formalization scope and conventions

The environment is Lean 4.33.1 with Mathlib revision 0df444a360eaa60ab8c11dca51a86af692955474. Matrices are functions on finite index sets. Program evaluation and output selection give exact field values. The main theorem fixes the field to C\mathbb CC, excludes size zero from admissibility, and uses real powers for its cost estimates. Constants may be arbitrary complex numbers; no bit-cost interpretation is asserted.

The definition item preserves the original source block, including its rectangular matrix multiplication definitions and complex dual exponent. Those additional definitions support the shared source development but are not additional mission goals. A complete proof must establish the displayed bound without an admitted lemma, a new axiom, or an assumption equivalent to that bound. Reusable components include the arithmetic program model, finite tensor constructions, asymptotic bounds, and the bridge from tensor rank to arithmetic operations.

Selected references

  • OpenAI, An Upper Bound of 9/4 for the Matrix Multiplication Exponent, preprint, October 2, 2026. Paper, Theorem 1.1.
  • OpenAI, MatrixMultiplication comparator challenge and Lean development, 2026, source revision adc7f1241b42e322a6451854ab7e4b4c146bf78a. Exact challenge statement.
2 thms1 active userReviewed
🏆Completed
Number Theory·Captain: moona3k

Every Odd Number Greater Than 1 is the Sum of At Most 4401 PrimesResearch Paper

Motivation

This entry records a completed elementary result in the campaign on odd numbers as sums of primes: every odd natural number greater than 1 is a sum of at most 4401 primes. It illustrates how an additive density estimate can reduce the number of prime summands in a Schnirelmann argument.

Exact target

For every natural number nnn, if nnn is odd and 1<n1<n1<n, there is a multiset sss of primes with s.card≤4401s.card\le 4401s.card≤4401 and s.sum=ns.sum=ns.sum=n. Repeated primes are allowed. The bound applies to every such nnn, not only sufficiently large integers.

The goal references the existing proved 4401 theorem. Its statement is the campaign template instantiated with 4401.

Supporting results and proof route

The two supporting references are the density bound and Mann's theorem, both already proved.

Let B={(p−3)/2:p is an odd prime}B=\{(p-3)/2:p\text{ is an odd prime}\}B={(p−3)/2:p is an odd prime} and A=B+BA=B+BA=B+B. The density estimate gives σ(A)≥1/2200\sigma(A)\ge 1/2200σ(A)≥1/2200. Mann's theorem gives σ(hA)≥min⁡(1,hσ(A))\sigma(hA)\ge\min(1,h\sigma(A))σ(hA)≥min(1,hσ(A)), so h=1100h=1100h=1100 yields density at least 1/21/21/2. The sumset cover argument then produces 4400 odd prime summands, with one additional 3 to obtain the required parity. Explicit sums of 2s and 3s handle the remaining small and medium ranges. These steps are included in the accepted goal proof; they are not unfinished milestones.

Verification and attribution

All three referenced theorems have ACCEPTED proof submissions under the account moona3k, are marked Proved, and use Mathlib revision 0df444a360eaa60ab8c11dca51a86af692955474. No new Lean statement or duplicate theorem is introduced by this proposal.

The density theorem's published source credits an extraction from the accepted 6101 proof. Mann's theorem is the classical additive density theorem of H. B. Mann; the accepted formalization follows the Dyson transform presentation cited in its theorem record. This entry assembles those existing results into the 4401 bound.

Campaign context

The 4401 bound was an intermediate improvement on 6101. It is not the current campaign frontier: the campaign now includes a proved bound of 27. This proposal preserves the earlier result and its proof route without claiming a new literature result or a new record.

Odd numbers as sums of primes campaign

3 thms1 active userReviewed
🏆Completed
CombinatoricsProbabilityQuantum Information+1·Captain: sattath

A Quantum Lovász Local Lemma (Ambainis, Kempe, Sattath)Research Paper

Status: complete. This mission records a finished formalization rather than an open call for work. Every statement below, including the goal, was uploaded together with a proof that the platform has verified, so there is nothing left to prove.

Motivation

The Lovász Local Lemma (LLL) is a basic tool of the probabilistic method. It shows that a collection of rare "bad" events can all be avoided simultaneously, even when the events are not independent, provided each event depends on only a few others. Its best-known application is to satisfiability: a kkk-CNF formula in which every variable appears in few clauses has a satisfying assignment.

Quantum satisfiability (kkk-QSAT) is the quantum analogue of kkk-SAT. Clauses are replaced by projectors acting on kkk qubits, and the question is whether some nonzero state is annihilated by all of them, equivalently whether the corresponding local Hamiltonian is frustration-free. Bravyi showed that kkk-QSAT is QMA1\mathsf{QMA}_1QMA1​-complete for k≥4k \ge 4k≥4, so sufficient conditions for satisfiability are of interest in quantum complexity theory and in many-body physics. Ambainis, Kempe and Sattath (arXiv:0911.1696, J. ACM 2012) proved a quantum version of the LLL in which probability is replaced by relative dimension, and derived a sufficient condition for kkk-QSAT instances to be satisfiable.

Timeline

  • 1975. Erdős and Lovász introduce the local lemma, in the symmetric form, to colour hypergraphs (Infinite and Finite Sets, 1975).
  • 1977. Spencer publishes the general (asymmetric) form, credited to Lovász, and applies it to Ramsey numbers (Discrete Math. 20, 1977).
  • 1985. Shearer determines the optimal dependency condition, in terms of the independence polynomial of the dependency graph (Combinatorica 5, 1985).
  • 2009 to 2010. Moser gives a constructive proof for kkk-SAT (arXiv:0810.4812, STOC 2009); Moser and Tardos make the general lemma constructive (arXiv:0903.0544, J. ACM 2010).
  • 2011. Kolipaka and Szegedy show that the Moser and Tardos algorithm works throughout Shearer's region, giving an algorithmic proof of Shearer's bound (Moser and Tardos meet Lovász, STOC 2011, 235 to 244).
  • 2009 to 2012. Ambainis, Kempe and Sattath prove the quantum local lemma and its kkk-QSAT corollaries (arXiv:0911.1696, J. ACM 59(5):24, 2012).
  • 2013. Arad and Sattath (arXiv:1310.7766) and, independently, Schwarz, Cubitt and Verstraete (arXiv:1311.6474) give constructive versions for commuting projectors.
  • 2016. Sattath, Morampudi, Laumann and Moessner extend Shearer's criterion to the quantum setting and conjecture that it is tight (arXiv:1509.07766, PNAS 2016).
  • 2017. He, Li, Liu, Wang and Xia show that the abstract and variable versions of the local lemma differ: Shearer's bound, tight for the abstract version, is not tight for the variable version (the setting of kkk-SAT, where events are determined by independent variables) for instance when the base graph of the event-variable graph has an induced cycle of length at least 4, while there is no gap when it is a tree (arXiv:1709.05143, FOCS 2017).
  • 2017. Gilyén and Sattath give an efficient quantum algorithm for the non-commuting case under a spectral gap condition (arXiv:1611.08571, FOCS 2017).
  • 2018 to 2019. He, Li, Sun and Zhang prove this conjecture: Shearer's bound is tight for the quantum local lemma, so in this respect the quantum lemma behaves like the abstract version rather than the variable one; they also show that the tight regions of the quantum lemma and of its commuting variant differ in general (arXiv:1804.07055, STOC 2019).

Setting

Let VVV be a nonzero finite-dimensional vector space. For a subspace X⊆VX \subseteq VX⊆V, the relative dimension is

R(X)=dim⁡Xdim⁡V.R(X) = \frac{\dim X}{\dim V}.R(X)=dimVdimX​.

It plays the role of probability: subspaces replace events, intersection replaces conjunction, and R(X∣Y)=dim⁡(X∩Y)/dim⁡YR(X \mid Y) = \dim(X \cap Y)/\dim YR(X∣Y)=dim(X∩Y)/dimY replaces conditional probability.

Subspaces X1,…,XnX_1, \dots, X_nX1​,…,Xn​ have dependency sets Γ(1),…,Γ(n)⊆{1,…,n}\Gamma(1), \dots, \Gamma(n) \subseteq \{1, \dots, n\}Γ(1),…,Γ(n)⊆{1,…,n} when, for every iii and every set SSS of indices with i∉Si \notin Si∈/S and S∩Γ(i)=∅S \cap \Gamma(i) = \emptysetS∩Γ(i)=∅,

R(Xi∩⋂j∈SXj)=R(Xi) R(⋂j∈SXj).R\Big(X_i \cap \bigcap_{j \in S} X_j\Big) = R(X_i)\, R\Big(\bigcap_{j \in S} X_j\Big).R(Xi​∩j∈S⋂​Xj​)=R(Xi​)R(j∈S⋂​Xj​).

In words, XiX_iXi​ is independent, for relative dimension, of every intersection of subspaces outside its dependency set.

A kkk-QSAT instance on nnn qubits is a family of projectors Π1,…,Πm\Pi_1, \dots, \Pi_mΠ1​,…,Πm​, each acting on a set of kkk qubits and extended by the identity on the others. It is satisfiable if a nonzero state lies in the kernel of every Πi\Pi_iΠi​.

The formalization proves the local lemma once, for an abstract valuation: a real function RRR on a bounded lattice that is nonnegative, monotone and modular, R(x)+R(y)=R(x∨y)+R(x∧y)R(x) + R(y) = R(x \vee y) + R(x \wedge y)R(x)+R(y)=R(x∨y)+R(x∧y), with R(⊤)=1R(\top) = 1R(⊤)=1 and R(⊥)=0R(\bot) = 0R(⊥)=0. Relative dimension on subspaces and the uniform probability on subsets of a finite set are the two instances used.

Formalization targets

Goal: the quantum local lemma (Theorem 14)

Let X1,…,XnX_1, \dots, X_nX1​,…,Xn​ be subspaces with dependency sets Γ(i)\Gamma(i)Γ(i), and let 0≤yi<10 \le y_i < 10≤yi​<1 satisfy R(Xi)≥1−yi∏j∈Γ(i)(1−yj)R(X_i) \ge 1 - y_i \prod_{j \in \Gamma(i)} (1 - y_j)R(Xi​)≥1−yi​∏j∈Γ(i)​(1−yj​) for every iii. Then

R(⋂i=1nXi) ≥ ∏i=1n(1−yi).R\Big(\bigcap_{i=1}^{n} X_i\Big) \ \ge\ \prod_{i=1}^{n} (1 - y_i).R(i=1⋂n​Xi​) ≥ i=1∏n​(1−yi​).

Other formalized results

All of these are proved on Prove2Me and can be found by name (tag quantum-lll):

  1. The same statement for any valuation on a bounded lattice (Theorem 14, abstract form): QLLL.Valuation.lll.
  2. The symmetric quantum local lemma: if R(Xi)≥1−pR(X_i) \ge 1 - pR(Xi​)≥1−p, each XiX_iXi​ has at most ddd dependencies and p⋅e⋅(d+1)≤1p \cdot e \cdot (d + 1) \le 1p⋅e⋅(d+1)≤1, then R(⋂iXi)>0R(\bigcap_i X_i) > 0R(⋂i​Xi​)>0 (Theorem 4): QLLL.quantum_lll_symmetric.
  3. The classical Erdős and Lovász local lemma, asymmetric and symmetric (Theorems 13 and 1), for the uniform probability on a finite set: QLLL.SAT.classical_lll, QLLL.SAT.classical_lll_symmetric.
  4. kkk-SAT: a kkk-CNF formula in which every variable appears in at most 2k/(ek)2^k/(e k)2k/(ek) clauses is satisfiable (Corollary 2): QLLL.SAT.sat_of_degree_le.
  5. kkk-QSAT: an instance of rank-≤r\le r≤r constraints in which every qubit appears in at most 2k/(erk)2^k/(e r k)2k/(erk) constraints is satisfiable (Corollary 16): QLLL.PiQSAT.inf_ker_extendOp_ne_bot on Mathlib's tensor product, and QLLL.QSAT.satisfiable_of_degree_le for orthogonal projectors.
  6. Two results beyond the paper: infinite kkk-SAT (QLLL.SAT.exists_assignment_forall), and the local lemma for infinite index sets under a continuity hypothesis (QLLL.lll_iInf).

Significance

The quantum local lemma gives a sufficient condition for kkk-QSAT satisfiability that depends only on the local structure of the instance: the rank of the projectors and the number of projectors per qubit. It shows that the classical criterion survives the passage from events to subspaces, even though subspaces do not form a distributive lattice. Later work on constructive and tight versions, listed in the timeline, builds on this statement.

All results of this mission are proved and machine-checked. The Lean development was written as a complete formalization of the paper, and every statement here was uploaded together with a proof verified by the platform. What the mission adds is a reusable, Mathlib-based library: the local lemma for abstract valuations, its classical and quantum instances, kkk-QSAT stated on Mathlib's tensor product of qubits, and linear algebra on intersections of tensor products of subspaces that Mathlib does not yet contain. Mathlib currently has no form of the Lovász Local Lemma.

Difficulty

The classical proof uses complements of events and the identity Pr⁡(A)+Pr⁡(Ac)=1\Pr(A) + \Pr(A^c) = 1Pr(A)+Pr(Ac)=1, together with the distributive law for events. Subspaces satisfy neither in general: the lattice of subspaces is modular but not distributive, and the orthogonal complement does not distribute over intersections. The argument has to be rebuilt from the properties of relative dimension that do hold. For kkk-QSAT, the further difficulty is to show that constraints acting on disjoint sets of qubits are independent for relative dimension, which requires computing intersections and dimensions of tensor products of subspaces.

Formalization scope

Conventions committed to in the Lean statements:

  1. The local lemma is stated for nnn indexed subspaces (or lattice elements) and real weights 0≤yi<10 \le y_i < 10≤yi​<1. An index is never in its own dependency set's complement: independence is required from intersections over sets SSS that avoid both Γ(i)\Gamma(i)Γ(i) and iii itself.
  2. Independence is stated in product form, R(X∩Y)=R(X)R(Y)R(X \cap Y) = R(X) R(Y)R(X∩Y)=R(X)R(Y), which agrees with the conditional form of the paper whenever the conditional relative dimension is defined.
  3. The quantum lemma holds over any field and requires VVV to be nonzero and finite-dimensional.
  4. The classical lemmas are stated for good events (complements of bad events) under the uniform probability on a finite nonempty set.
  5. Qubits: the main kkk-QSAT statement uses Mathlib's tensor product ⨂jC2\bigotimes_{j} \mathbb{C}^2⨂j​C2 and allows arbitrary local operators of rank at most rrr, since only the dimension of their kernels enters. A second form, on functions from bit strings to C\mathbb{C}C, requires the constraints to be orthogonal projectors (idempotent and self-adjoint). Self-adjointness cannot yet be stated on Mathlib's nnn-fold tensor product, which has no inner product in the pinned Mathlib version.
  6. Degree conditions are integers: "at most 2k/(erk)2^k/(e r k)2k/(erk) projectors per qubit" is written as at most D′+1D' + 1D′+1 with r2k⋅e⋅(kD′+1)≤1\frac{r}{2^k} \cdot e \cdot (k D' + 1) \le 12kr​⋅e⋅(kD′+1)≤1, which the paper's hypothesis implies.

An infinite version of kkk-QSAT is deliberately not included. Nonzero subspaces can have all finite intersections nonzero and zero total intersection, so the infinite statement has to be phrased with compatible families of density matrices, and the current Lean formulation does not yet restrict the constraints to positive operators.

The blueprint of the formalization, linking every paper statement to its Lean declaration, is at sattath.github.io/Quantum-Lovasz-Local-Lemma/blueprint. Natural extensions, outside the scope of this mission: the orthogonal-projector form of Corollary 16 on Mathlib's tensor product once inner products on nnn-fold tensor products are available, Shearer-type conditions, and a measure-theoretic classical local lemma on general probability spaces.

A note from the contributor

This is my first contribution to Prove2Me, so the definitions, statements, proofs and descriptions may fall short of what an experienced contributor would produce. Some choices may be unidiomatic, some lemmas may duplicate Mathlib, and the split into entries could be better. Every proof is checked by Lean, so the theorems are correct as stated; the question is whether they are stated in the most useful way.

Selected references

  • P. Erdős and L. Lovász, Problems and results on 3-chromatic hypergraphs and some related questions, Infinite and Finite Sets, Colloq. Math. Soc. János Bolyai 10, 1975, 609 to 627.
  • J. Spencer, Asymptotic lower bounds for Ramsey functions, Discrete Math. 20, 1977, 69 to 76.
  • J. B. Shearer, On a problem of Spencer, Combinatorica 5, 1985, 241 to 245.
  • R. A. Moser, A constructive proof of the Lovász local lemma, STOC 2009. arXiv:0810.4812
  • R. A. Moser and G. Tardos, A constructive proof of the general Lovász local lemma, J. ACM 57(2), 2010. arXiv:0903.0544
  • A. Ambainis, J. Kempe and O. Sattath, A quantum Lovász local lemma, J. ACM 59(5):24, 2012. arXiv:0911.1696
  • I. Arad and O. Sattath, A constructive quantum Lovász local lemma for commuting projectors, 2013. arXiv:1310.7766
  • M. Schwarz, T. S. Cubitt and F. Verstraete, An information-theoretic proof of the constructive commutative quantum Lovász local lemma, 2013. arXiv:1311.6474
  • O. Sattath, S. C. Morampudi, C. R. Laumann and R. Moessner, When a local Hamiltonian must be frustration-free, PNAS 113(23), 2016. arXiv:1509.07766
  • A. Gilyén and O. Sattath, On preparing ground states of gapped Hamiltonians: an efficient quantum Lovász local lemma, FOCS 2017. arXiv:1611.08571
  • K. He, Q. Li, X. Sun and J. Zhang, Quantum Lovász local lemma: Shearer's bound is tight, STOC 2019. arXiv:1804.07055
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Number Theory·Captain: xuanji

Every Odd Number Greater Than 1 is the Sum of at Most 27 PrimesResearch Paper

Motivation

Schnirelmann showed around 1930, by elementary means, that some absolute constant kkk makes every integer n>1n > 1n>1 a sum of at most kkk primes. For odd nnn:

  • Schnirelmann (1930s): some finite kkk, by elementary methods.
  • Klimov, Pil'tai, Sheptitskaya (1972): 115115115; Vaughan (1977): 272727; Riesel–Vaughan (1983): 191919 for all integers. Vaughan's and Riesel–Vaughan's bounds use zero-based prime-counting estimates (Rosser–Schoenfeld).
  • Ramaré (1995): every even integer is a sum of at most six primes, so every odd n>1n > 1n>1 is a sum of at most seven. (Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa, 1995)
  • Tao (2014): at most five primes. (arXiv:1201.6656)
  • Helfgott (2013): every odd n>5n > 5n>5 is a sum of three primes. (arXiv:1312.7748)

The campaign's earlier values (100 001100\,001100001 down to 414141) came from Schnirelmann's method with every constant written out. The 414141 entry used the sharp singular-series weight K(s)=∏p∣s, p>2p−1p−2K(s) = \prod_{p \mid s,\, p > 2} \frac{p-1}{p-2}K(s)=∏p∣s,p>2​p−2p−1​ in a pointwise sieve bound, and its large range stopped near 393939 because the pointwise bound loses the spread of the singular series. This entry replaces that large range by Riesel and Vaughan's weighted argument, which divides out the singular series exactly, using Dirichlet characters and the large sieve. Rosser–Schoenfeld's zero-based bound is replaced throughout by Chebyshev's elementary ψ(x)≥0.9212x−5log⁡x+5\psi(x) \ge 0.9212x - 5\log x + 5ψ(x)≥0.9212x−5logx+5. No zeta- or LLL-function zero input is used, and the result matches Vaughan's 272727.

Setting

A representation of nnn as a sum of at most kkk primes is a finite multiset of primes summing to nnn with at most kkk elements counted with multiplicity. The Schnirelmann density of A⊆Z≥0A \subseteq \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}A⊆Z≥0​ is σ(A)=inf⁡N≥1∣A∩{1,…,N}∣/N\sigma(A) = \inf_{N \ge 1} |A \cap \{1, \dots, N\}|/Nσ(A)=infN≥1​∣A∩{1,…,N}∣/N (Mathlib: schnirelmannDensity).

Formalization target

Goal

∀n∈N,n odd, n>1  ⟹  ∃ s multiset of primes, ∣s∣≤27, ∑s=n.\forall n \in \mathbb{N},\quad n \text{ odd},\ n > 1 \implies \exists\, s \text{ multiset of primes},\ |s| \le 27,\ \textstyle\sum s = n.∀n∈N,n odd, n>1⟹∃s multiset of primes, ∣s∣≤27, ∑s=n.

This is the campaign template with the value 272727 filled in.

How the bound arises

Let B={(p−3)/2:p odd prime}B = \{(p-3)/2 : p \text{ odd prime}\}B={(p−3)/2:p odd prime} and A=B+BA = B + BA=B+B. We show σ(A)≥1/13\sigma(A) \ge 1/13σ(A)≥1/13, then conclude with Mann's theorem. Let r(s)r(s)r(s) be the number of ordered pairs of odd primes with p+q=sp + q = sp+q=s. Since #(A∩[1,N])+1≥#{s≤2N+6:r(s)>0}\#(A \cap [1,N]) + 1 \ge \#\{s \le 2N+6 : r(s) > 0\}#(A∩[1,N])+1≥#{s≤2N+6:r(s)>0}, it suffices to show #{s≤y:r(s)>0}≥y/25\#\{s \le y : r(s) > 0\} \ge y/25#{s≤y:r(s)>0}≥y/25 for large yyy. Write L=log⁡yL = \log yL=logy and C=2∏p>2(1−(p−1)−2)≤1.3217C = 2\prod_{p>2}(1 - (p-1)^{-2}) \le 1.3217C=2∏p>2​(1−(p−1)−2)≤1.3217 for the twin-prime constant.

  1. Chebyshev's constant a≈0.9212a \approx 0.9212a≈0.9212. For x≥30x \ge 30x≥30, ψ(x)≥ax−5log⁡x+5\psi(x) \ge ax - 5\log x + 5ψ(x)≥ax−5logx+5. Through B⊆AB \subseteq AB⊆A this covers L<23L < 23L<23.
  2. Small-shift range (Riesel–Vaughan 1983, Lemma 8), 23≤L≤30023 \le L \le 30023≤L≤300. With the first 150150150 odd primes as shifts and Siebert's prime-pair bound 8C K(d) x/log⁡2x8C\,K(d)\,x/\log^2 x8CK(d)x/log2x (platform theorem TaoFivePrimes.siebert_prime_pair_bound), Cauchy–Schwarz gives #{s≤y:r(s)>0}≥y/25\#\{s \le y : r(s) > 0\} \ge y/25#{s≤y:r(s)>0}≥y/25. The kernel sum ∑K(p1−p2)≤19496\sum K(p_1 - p_2) \le 19496∑K(p1​−p2​)≤19496 is a finite computation.
  3. Large range (Riesel–Vaughan 1983, §8), L≥300L \ge 300L≥300. Weight each nnn by w(n)=∏p∣n, p>2p−2p−1w(n) = \prod_{p \mid n,\, p > 2} \frac{p-2}{p-1}w(n)=∏p∣n,p>2​p−1p−2​, which cancels the singular series. Then #{s:r(s)>0}≥∑r(n)w(n)/max⁡r(n)w(n)\#\{s : r(s) > 0\} \ge \sum r(n) w(n) / \max r(n) w(n)#{s:r(s)>0}≥∑r(n)w(n)/maxr(n)w(n). The weighted sum is bounded below through Dirichlet characters modulo odd ddd, Gauss sums and the platform's weighted large sieve (MVSieve.primitive_character_large_sieve, MVSieve.large_sieve_weight_lower), with Chebyshev's bound in place of Rosser–Schoenfeld. This gives y/25y/25y/25 with room to spare.
  4. Mann's theorem turns 13 σ(A)≥113\,\sigma(A) \ge 113σ(A)≥1 into 13A=Z≥013A = \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}13A=Z≥0​. So every odd n≥81n \ge 81n≥81 is a sum of 262626 odd primes plus one 333; odd 55≤n<8155 \le n < 8155≤n<81 use twos and threes to make exactly 272727, and smaller nnn use one 333 and twos. Hence K=2⋅13+1=27K = 2 \cdot 13 + 1 = 27K=2⋅13+1=27.

Significance

The argument reaches Vaughan's 272727 with no zeros of ζ\zetaζ or LLL-functions and no prime number theorem. New reusable components:

  1. Riesel and Vaughan's singular-series-weighted large range, formalized with an elementary Chebyshev bound.
  2. The Riesel–Vaughan small-shift range driven by Siebert's bound, down to density 1/251/251/25.

Formalization scope

The Lean statement is the campaign template verbatim with 272727 in place of the value. The proof imports two platform theorems: RV27.middle_range (the small-shift range, 23≤log⁡n≤30023 \le \log n \le 30023≤logn≤300) and RV27.large_range (log⁡n≥300\log n \ge 300logn≥300), and Schnir.basis_of_density (Mann's theorem). Those rest on TaoFivePrimes.siebert_prime_pair_bound, the PrimePairSieve nodes and the MVSieve large-sieve nodes.

Selected references

  • H. Riesel, R. C. Vaughan, On sums of primes, Ark. Mat. 21 (1983), 45–74.
  • R. C. Vaughan, On the estimation of Schnirelman's constant, J. Reine Angew. Math. 290 (1977), 93–108.
  • H. L. Montgomery, R. C. Vaughan, The large sieve, Mathematika 20 (1973), 119–134.
  • H.-E. Siebert, Montgomery's weighted sieve for dimension two, Monatsh. Math. 82 (1976), 327–336.
  • P. Pollack, Not Always Buried Deep, AMS, 2009, Chapter 6, §6. https://www.pollack-math.net/NABDofficial.pdf
  • O. Ramaré, On Šnirel'man's constant, Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa (4) 22 (1995), 645–706.
  • T. Tao, Every odd number greater than 1 is the sum of at most five primes, Math. Comp. 83 (2014). https://arxiv.org/abs/1201.6656
  • Chebyshev's lower bound as formalized in PrimeNumberTheoremAnd (PrimeNumberTheoremAnd/IEANTN/Chebyshev.lean).
  • Explicit improvement of the 414141 constant (unpublished AI-assisted calculation, October 2026). Source of the constant 272727; not peer reviewed.
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Number Theory·Captain: xuanji

Every Odd Number Greater Than 1 is the Sum of at Most 41 PrimesResearch Paper

Motivation

Schnirelmann showed around 1930, by elementary means, that some absolute constant kkk makes every integer n>1n > 1n>1 a sum of at most kkk primes. For odd nnn:

  • Schnirelmann (1930s): some finite kkk, by elementary methods.
  • Klimov, Pil'tai, Sheptitskaya (1972): 115115115; Riesel–Vaughan (1983): 191919 for all integers, using zero-based prime-counting estimates.
  • Ramaré (1995): every even integer is a sum of at most six primes, so every odd n>1n > 1n>1 is a sum of at most seven. (Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa, 1995)
  • Tao (2014): at most five primes. (arXiv:1201.6656)
  • Helfgott (2013): every odd n>5n > 5n>5 is a sum of three primes. (arXiv:1312.7748)

The campaign's earlier values (100 001100\,001100001 down to 858585) came from Schnirelmann's method with every constant written out, using Chebyshev-type lower bounds for π(y)\pi(y)π(y) and a Selberg sieve whose singular-series weight C(s)C(s)C(s) was crude. The 858585 entry hit the limit of that crude weight. This entry replaces it by the sharp weight K(s)=∏p∣s, p>2p−1p−2K(s) = \prod_{p \mid s,\, p > 2} \frac{p-1}{p-2}K(s)=∏p∣s,p>2​p−2p−1​, using the platform's proved prime-pair sieve (TaoFivePrimes.siebert_prime_pair_bound, Siebert's bound as used by Riesel–Vaughan) and its PrimePairSieve components. No zeta-zero input is used.

Setting

A representation of nnn as a sum of at most kkk primes is a finite multiset of primes summing to nnn with at most kkk elements counted with multiplicity. The Schnirelmann density of A⊆Z≥0A \subseteq \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}A⊆Z≥0​ is σ(A)=inf⁡N≥1∣A∩{1,…,N}∣/N\sigma(A) = \inf_{N \ge 1} |A \cap \{1, \dots, N\}|/Nσ(A)=infN≥1​∣A∩{1,…,N}∣/N (Mathlib: schnirelmannDensity).

Formalization target

Goal

∀n∈N,n odd, n>1  ⟹  ∃ s multiset of primes, ∣s∣≤41, ∑s=n.\forall n \in \mathbb{N},\quad n \text{ odd},\ n > 1 \implies \exists\, s \text{ multiset of primes},\ |s| \le 41,\ \textstyle\sum s = n.∀n∈N,n odd, n>1⟹∃s multiset of primes, ∣s∣≤41, ∑s=n.

This is the campaign template with the value 414141 filled in.

How the bound arises

Let B={(p−3)/2:p odd prime}B = \{(p-3)/2 : p \text{ odd prime}\}B={(p−3)/2:p odd prime} and A=B+BA = B + BA=B+B. We show σ(A)≥1/20\sigma(A) \ge 1/20σ(A)≥1/20, then conclude with Mann's theorem. Write L=log⁡yL = \log yL=logy for the scale and C=2∏p>2(1−(p−1)−2)≤1.3217C = 2\prod_{p>2}(1 - (p-1)^{-2}) \le 1.3217C=2∏p>2​(1−(p−1)−2)≤1.3217 for the twin-prime constant.

  1. Chebyshev's constant a≈0.9212a \approx 0.9212a≈0.9212. For x≥30x \ge 30x≥30, ψ(x)≥ax−5log⁡x+5\psi(x) \ge ax - 5\log x + 5ψ(x)≥ax−5logx+5 (as in the 858585 entry). Through B⊆AB \subseteq AB⊆A this covers L<30L < 30L<30.
  2. Small-shift range (Riesel–Vaughan 1983, Lemma 8), 30≤L≤200030 \le L \le 200030≤L≤2000. Fix the first 150150150 odd primes p1≤877p_1 \le 877p1​≤877 and let R(s)R(s)R(s) count s=p1+qs = p_1 + qs=p1​+q with qqq prime. The second moment ∑R(s)2\sum R(s)^2∑R(s)2 needs the number of prime pairs (q,q+d)(q, q+d)(q,q+d), which Siebert's bound gives as at most 8C K(d) x/log⁡2x8C\,K(d)\,x/\log^2 x8CK(d)x/log2x with no error term. The kernel sum ∑p2<p1K(p1−p2)≤19496\sum_{p_2 < p_1} K(p_1 - p_2) \le 19496∑p2​<p1​​K(p1​−p2​)≤19496 is a finite kernel computation. Cauchy–Schwarz gives #{s≤y:R(s)>0}≥y/39\#\{s \le y : R(s) > 0\} \ge y/39#{s≤y:R(s)>0}≥y/39 on this range.
  3. Large range L≥2000L \ge 2000L≥2000. A Goldbach analogue of Siebert's bound, r(s)≤8C K(s) (s+1)/log⁡2(s+1)+s+1/2+2r(s) \le 8C\,K(s)\,(s+1)/\log^2(s+1) + \sqrt{s+1}/2 + 2r(s)≤8CK(s)(s+1)/log2(s+1)+s+1​/2+2 for even sss, comes from the platform's weighted large-sieve bound for sifted sets applied to {p:s−p prime}\{p : s - p \text{ prime}\}{p:s−p prime} with the shift d=2sP−sd = 2sP - sd=2sP−s (PPP the primorial of the sieve level, so p∣d  ⟺  p∣sp \mid d \iff p \mid sp∣d⟺p∣s for sieving primes), the divisor-kernel comparison and the base-denominator threshold. Combined with the weighted first moment ∑r(s)log⁡2s/s≥0.8477 n\sum r(s)\log^2 s/s \ge 0.8477\,n∑r(s)log2s/s≥0.8477n, the twelfth moment ∑s≤x evenK(s)12≤19500 x\sum_{s \le x \text{ even}} K(s)^{12} \le 19500\,x∑s≤x even​K(s)12≤19500x and Hölder, this gives #{s≤n:r(s)>0}≥n/39\#\{s \le n : r(s) > 0\} \ge n/39#{s≤n:r(s)>0}≥n/39.
  4. Mann's theorem turns 20 σ(A)≥120\,\sigma(A) \ge 120σ(A)≥1 into 20A=Z≥020A = \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}20A=Z≥0​, so every odd n≥123n \ge 123n≥123 is a sum of 404040 odd primes plus one 333; odd 83≤n<12383 \le n < 12383≤n<123 use twos and threes to make exactly 414141, and smaller nnn use one 333 and twos: K=2⋅20+1=41K = 2 \cdot 20 + 1 = 41K=2⋅20+1=41.

Significance

The argument stays elementary: no prime number theorem and no zeros of ζ\zetaζ or LLL-functions. New reusable components:

  1. A Goldbach analogue of Siebert's prime-pair bound with the sharp singular-series weight K(s)K(s)K(s), built from the platform's PrimePairSieve nodes.
  2. The Riesel–Vaughan small-shift argument driven by Siebert's bound.
  3. An explicit twelfth-moment bound for K(s)K(s)K(s).

Formalization scope

The Lean statement is the campaign template verbatim with 414141 in place of the value. Already proved on the platform and imported: TaoFivePrimes.siebert_prime_pair_bound, PrimePairSieve_reciprocal_weighted_sifted_bound, PrimePairSieve.divisor_kernel_comparison, PrimePairSieve.reciprocal_base_denominator_dominates_threshold, PrimePairSieve.sieve_constants_certificate, Schnir.basis_of_density.

Selected references

  • H. Riesel, R. C. Vaughan, On sums of primes, Ark. Mat. 21 (1983), 45–74.
  • P. Pollack, Not Always Buried Deep, AMS, 2009, Chapter 6, §6. https://www.pollack-math.net/NABDofficial.pdf
  • K. S. Kedlaya, Notes on Analytic Number Theory, Chapter 13, "The Selberg sieve". https://kskedlaya.org/ant/chap-selberg.html
  • O. Ramaré, On Šnirel'man's constant, Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa (4) 22 (1995), 645–706.
  • T. Tao, Every odd number greater than 1 is the sum of at most five primes, Math. Comp. 83 (2014). https://arxiv.org/abs/1201.6656
  • Chebyshev's lower bound as formalized in PrimeNumberTheoremAnd (PrimeNumberTheoremAnd/IEANTN/Chebyshev.lean).
  • H.-E. Siebert, Montgomery's weighted sieve for dimension two, Monatsh. Math. 82 (1976), 327–336.
  • Explicit improvement of the 858585 constant (unpublished AI-assisted calculation, October 2026). Source of the constant 414141; not peer reviewed.
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CombinatoricsTheoretical Computer Science·Captain: wurtle

APSP in O(n^2.9983) via All-Edges Exact TriangleResearch Paper

All-pairs shortest paths (APSP) computes the shortest distance between every pair of vertices in a weighted graph.

We strengthen the previously formalized O(n2.99942)O(n^{2.99942})O(n2.99942) bound to O(n2.9983)O(n^{2.9983})O(n2.9983) for deterministic APSP on directed graphs with polynomially bounded integer weights and no negative cycles, using the same word-RAM model. It formalizes the improvement outlined by Alman and Vassilevska Williams in their conclusion.

References:

  1. Josh Alman and Virginia Vassilevska Williams, Truly Subquadratic 3SUM and Truly Subcubic APSP via Triangles in Sparse Lopsided Graphs, 2026, Theorems 17 and 19 and conclusion footnote 10.
  2. Virginia Vassilevska Williams and Ryan Williams, Finding, Minimizing, and Counting Weighted Subgraphs, 2013, Theorem 3.3 and Proposition 3.4.
  3. Virginia Vassilevska Williams and Ryan Williams, Subcubic Equivalences Between Path, Matrix, and Triangle Problems, 2018, Theorem 4.2.
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Differential GeometryGeometry & TopologySymplectic Geometry·Captain: Mazecto

Gray's Stability Theorem for Contact StructuresResearch Paper

Motivation

A contact structure on a manifold of odd dimension 2k+12k+12k+1 is a field of hyperplanes ξ=ker⁡α\xi=\ker\alphaξ=kerα that is as far from integrable as possible. Contact structures are the odd-dimensional counterpart of symplectic forms. They arise on every star-shaped energy level of a Hamiltonian system, on unit cotangent bundles (geodesic flows), and on links of singularities. They are the setting of Reeb dynamics and of the Weinstein conjecture.

Gray's stability theorem says that on a closed manifold contact structures have no local moduli. If ξt\xi_tξt​, t∈[0,1]t\in[0,1]t∈[0,1], is a smooth family of contact structures, there is an isotopy ψt\psi_tψt​ with Tψt(ξ0)=ξtT\psi_t(\xi_0)=\xi_tTψt​(ξ0​)=ξt​. A contact structure can therefore be deformed only within its isotopy class, and every classification of contact structures (tight versus overtwisted, Eliashberg's classification on S3S^3S3) is a classification up to isotopy because of it.

Timeline.

  • 1959. Gray proves stability with deformation theory in the style of Kodaira–Spencer (Ann. of Math. 69).
  • 1965. Moser proves the analogous stability for volume forms by integrating a time-dependent vector field, now called the Moser trick (Trans. AMS 120).
  • Later. The Moser trick becomes the standard proof of Gray's theorem. Geiges' survey gives a short complete proof (arXiv:math/0307242, Theorem 2.20), which is the source of this mission. Its remarks record the limits of the statement: contact forms are not stable (Remark 2.21(1)), and on the open manifold S1×R2S^1\times\mathbb{R}^2S1×R2 stability fails (Remark 2.21(2), after Eliashberg).

Setting

The closed manifold is a compact submanifold of Euclidean space. Let F:Rn→RcF:\mathbb{R}^n\to\mathbb{R}^cF:Rn→Rc be smooth, let M=F−1(0)M=F^{-1}(0)M=F−1(0) be compact, and assume DF(y)DF(y)DF(y) is surjective for every y∈My\in My∈M. Then MMM is a closed smooth manifold of dimension n−cn-cn−c with tangent spaces

TyM=ker⁡DF(y).T_yM=\ker DF(y).Ty​M=kerDF(y).

A one-form is a smooth map α:Rn→(Rn)∗\alpha:\mathbb{R}^n\to(\mathbb{R}^n)^*α:Rn→(Rn)∗, restricted to TMTMTM. Its exterior derivative is

dαy(u,v)=Dαy(u)(v)−Dαy(v)(u).d\alpha_y(u,v)=D\alpha_y(u)(v)-D\alpha_y(v)(u).dαy​(u,v)=Dαy​(u)(v)−Dαy​(v)(u).
  • Contact form. α\alphaα is a contact form on MMM if at every y∈My\in My∈M the covector αy\alpha_yαy​ is nonzero on TyMT_yMTy​M and dαyd\alpha_ydαy​ is non-degenerate on the hyperplane
ξy=TyM∩ker⁡αy.\xi_y=T_yM\cap\ker\alpha_y.ξy​=Ty​M∩kerαy​.

This is the condition α∧(dα)k≠0\alpha\wedge(d\alpha)^k\neq0α∧(dα)k=0 in the form of Geiges' Remark 2.3. It forces dim⁡M\dim MdimM to be odd. The contact structure is ξ=ker⁡α\xi=\ker\alphaξ=kerα. Contact structures are cooriented throughout, as in Geiges' standing assumption (§2).

  • Smooth family. A family αt\alpha_tαt​ is smooth if (t,y)↦αt(y)(t,y)\mapsto\alpha_t(y)(t,y)↦αt​(y) is smooth. It is a family of contact forms if each αt\alpha_tαt​, t∈[0,1]t\in[0,1]t∈[0,1], is a contact form on MMM.
  • Isotopy. An isotopy of MMM is a smooth map (t,y)↦ψt(y)(t,y)\mapsto\psi_t(y)(t,y)↦ψt​(y) with ψ0=id\psi_0=\mathrm{id}ψ0​=id on MMM, such that each ψt\psi_tψt​, t∈[0,1]t\in[0,1]t∈[0,1], maps MMM bijectively onto MMM with injective differential on TMTMTM, i.e. is a diffeomorphism of MMM.
  • Pull-back. (ψt∗α)y(v)=αψt(y)(Dψt(y) v)(\psi_t^*\alpha)_y(v)=\alpha_{\psi_t(y)}(D\psi_t(y)\,v)(ψt∗​α)y​(v)=αψt​(y)​(Dψt​(y)v).

Formalization targets

Goal: Gray stability (Theorem 2.20)

For every smooth family of contact forms αt\alpha_tαt​, t∈[0,1]t\in[0,1]t∈[0,1], on MMM there is an isotopy ψt\psi_tψt​ of MMM with

Tψt(ξ0)=ξt(t∈[0,1]),ξt=ker⁡αt,T\psi_t(\xi_0)=\xi_t\qquad(t\in[0,1]),\qquad\xi_t=\ker\alpha_t,Tψt​(ξ0​)=ξt​(t∈[0,1]),ξt​=kerαt​,

stated pointwise: for v∈TyMv\in T_yMv∈Ty​M, α0(v)=0\alpha_0(v)=0α0​(v)=0 iff αt(Dψt(y)v)=0\alpha_t(D\psi_t(y)v)=0αt​(Dψt​(y)v)=0.

The goal concerns the contact structures. It fixes no normalization of the forms and no dimension.

Stronger: conformal form

The same isotopy can be chosen with smooth functions λt>0\lambda_t>0λt​>0 such that

ψt∗αt=λt α0on TM.\psi_t^*\alpha_t=\lambda_t\,\alpha_0\quad\text{on }TM.ψt∗​αt​=λt​α0​on TM.

Stronger: stationary points (Remark 2.21(3))

Moreover, every point p∈Mp\in Mp∈M at which α˙t\dot\alpha_tα˙t​ vanishes on TpMT_pMTp​M for all ttt stays fixed: ψt(p)=p\psi_t(p)=pψt​(p)=p.

Significance

The result. Gray stability is the basic rigidity statement of contact topology.

  • It reduces the classification of contact structures to isotopy classes, so invariants of a contact manifold are constant along deformations.
  • It is the first step of many local normal forms: Darboux's theorem and the neighbourhood theorems for Legendrian and transverse submanifolds are proved by applying it, or its proof, near a submanifold (Geiges §2.4–2.5).
  • In Hamiltonian dynamics it identifies the contact structures of a continuous family of star-shaped energy levels. Topological invariants of transverse periodic orbits, such as the self-linking number, are then constant along the family.

Formalizing it. The theorem is classical and has a short proof on paper. Mathlib, at the revision used here, has no differential forms on manifolds, no Lie derivative, no global flows of time-dependent vector fields on compact submanifolds, and no contact structures. The mission builds these concretely on submanifolds of Rn\mathbb{R}^nRn:

  • one-forms, their exterior derivative and pull-back;
  • the derivative of a pulled-back family along a flow (Lemma 2.19);
  • the pointwise linear algebra of a contact form: the Reeb vector, and the unique solution of the Moser equation;
  • global flows of smooth time-dependent vector fields tangent to a compact submanifold.

All of these are reusable for Moser's theorem on volume and symplectic forms and for the Darboux and neighbourhood theorems.

Difficulty

The proof is soft, but two steps are not formal.

  1. Solving for the vector field. Writing ψt\psi_tψt​ as the flow of XtX_tXt​, the equation ψt∗αt=λtα0\psi_t^*\alpha_t=\lambda_t\alpha_0ψt∗​αt​=λt​α0​ becomes
α˙t+iXtdαt=μtαt,Xt∈ξt.\dot\alpha_t+i_{X_t}d\alpha_t=\mu_t\alpha_t,\qquad X_t\in\xi_t.α˙t​+iXt​​dαt​=μt​αt​,Xt​∈ξt​.

It has a unique solution at each point, but only because dαtd\alpha_tdαt​ is non-degenerate on ξt\xi_tξt​ and the Reeb vector spans the kernel of dαt∣TMd\alpha_t|_{TM}dαt​∣TM​. The solution must also depend smoothly on (t,y)(t,y)(t,y) and be tangent to MMM; the ambient form αt\alpha_tαt​ is in general not contact off MMM. 2. Integrating it. The isotopy is the flow of XtX_tXt​, which must exist for all t∈[0,1]t\in[0,1]t∈[0,1] and stay on MMM. Compactness of MMM enters exactly here. On open manifolds the statement is false (Remark 2.21(2)).

The tempting shortcut of asking for ψt∗αt=α0\psi_t^*\alpha_t=\alpha_0ψt∗​αt​=α0​ does not work. Contact forms themselves are not stable, as the Hopf family on S3S^3S3 shows (Remark 2.21(1)), and the conformal factor λt\lambda_tλt​ cannot be dropped.

Formalization scope

  • Representation.
    • Rn\mathbb{R}^nRn is Fin n → ℝ; MMM is a compact regular level set F−1(0)F^{-1}(0)F−1(0) of a smooth F:Rn→RcF:\mathbb{R}^n\to\mathbb{R}^cF:Rn→Rc.
    • One-forms are maps Rn→(Rn→LR)\mathbb{R}^n\to(\mathbb{R}^n\to_L\mathbb{R})Rn→(Rn→L​R), smooth families are jointly smooth in (t,y)(t,y)(t,y) on R×Rn\mathbb{R}\times\mathbb{R}^nR×Rn, and dαd\alphadα is the antisymmetrized derivative.
    • An isotopy is a jointly smooth ψ:R×Rn→Rn\psi:\mathbb{R}\times\mathbb{R}^n\to\mathbb{R}^nψ:R×Rn→Rn that restricts, for t∈[0,1]t\in[0,1]t∈[0,1], to diffeomorphisms of MMM.
  • Committed conventions.
    • Contact structures are cooriented, i.e. given by global contact forms.
    • The contact condition is the non-degeneracy of dαd\alphadα on ξ\xiξ (Remark 2.3), not a wedge power.
    • Only the restrictions to TMTMTM and the values for t∈[0,1]t\in[0,1]t∈[0,1] matter.
  • Scope relative to the source. Every closed manifold embeds in some Rn\mathbb{R}^nRn, but not every closed manifold is a regular level set, since that requires a trivial normal bundle. The targets cover regular level sets, including all spheres and all star-shaped energy levels. The abstract version on any closed manifold is outside the targets until Mathlib has differential forms on manifolds.
  • Ruling out vacuous encodings. The isotopy must start at the identity on MMM, map MMM onto MMM for every t∈[0,1]t\in[0,1]t∈[0,1], and be a diffeomorphism there. Dropping any of these makes the goal trivial; for instance, the constant isotopy satisfies the goal whenever all ξt\xi_tξt​ agree. The Hopf family milestone checks that the contact condition is satisfiable and that the conformal factor is necessary.
  • Contributions welcome. The linear-algebra milestones (Reeb vector, Moser equation), Lemma 2.19, global flows on compact level sets, and the Hopf-family example. Moser's theorem for volume forms would be a natural sibling result built on the same infrastructure.

Selected references

  • J. W. Gray, Some global properties of contact structures, Ann. of Math. 69 (1959), 421–450. https://doi.org/10.2307/1970192
  • H. Geiges, Contact geometry, in Handbook of Differential Geometry, Vol. II, Elsevier (2006), 315–382; §2.2, Lemma 2.19, Theorem 2.20, Remark 2.21. https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0307242
  • H. Geiges, An Introduction to Contact Topology, Cambridge Stud. Adv. Math. 109, Cambridge Univ. Press (2008), §2.2. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611438
  • J. Moser, On the volume elements on a manifold, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 120 (1965), 286–294. https://doi.org/10.1090/S0002-9947-1965-0182927-5
  • Y. Eliashberg, Contact 3-manifolds twenty years since J. Martinet's work, Ann. Inst. Fourier 42 (1992), 165–192. https://doi.org/10.5802/aif.1288
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Number Theory·Captain: xuanji

Every Odd Number Greater Than 1 is the Sum of at Most 85 PrimesResearch Paper

Motivation

Schnirelmann showed around 1930, by elementary means, that some absolute constant kkk makes every integer n>1n > 1n>1 a sum of at most kkk primes. For odd nnn:

  • Schnirelmann (1930s): some finite kkk, by elementary methods.
  • Klimov, Pil'tai, Sheptitskaya (1972): 115115115; Riesel–Vaughan (1983): 191919 for all integers, using zero-based prime-counting estimates.
  • Ramaré (1995): every even integer is a sum of at most six primes, so every odd n>1n > 1n>1 is a sum of at most seven. (Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa, 1995)
  • Tao (2014): at most five primes. (arXiv:1201.6656)
  • Helfgott (2013): every odd n>5n > 5n>5 is a sum of three primes. (arXiv:1312.7748)

The campaign's earlier values (100 001100\,001100001 down to 151151151) came from Schnirelmann's method with every constant written out, using only weak Chebyshev lower bounds for π(y)\pi(y)π(y). This entry keeps the same machinery as the 151151151 entry but feeds it Chebyshev's sharper lower bound ψ(x)≥ax−5log⁡x+5\psi(x) \ge ax - 5\log x + 5ψ(x)≥ax−5logx+5 with a≈0.9212a \approx 0.9212a≈0.9212, obtained from the weights 1,−1,−1,−1,+11, -1, -1, -1, +11,−1,−1,−1,+1 at 1,2,3,5,301, 2, 3, 5, 301,2,3,5,30. No zeta-zero input is used.

Setting

A representation of nnn as a sum of at most kkk primes is a finite multiset of primes summing to nnn with at most kkk elements counted with multiplicity. The Schnirelmann density of A⊆Z≥0A \subseteq \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}A⊆Z≥0​ is σ(A)=inf⁡N≥1∣A∩{1,…,N}∣/N\sigma(A) = \inf_{N \ge 1} |A \cap \{1, \dots, N\}|/Nσ(A)=infN≥1​∣A∩{1,…,N}∣/N (Mathlib: schnirelmannDensity).

Formalization target

Goal

∀n∈N,n odd, n>1  ⟹  ∃ s multiset of primes, ∣s∣≤85, ∑s=n.\forall n \in \mathbb{N},\quad n \text{ odd},\ n > 1 \implies \exists\, s \text{ multiset of primes},\ |s| \le 85,\ \textstyle\sum s = n.∀n∈N,n odd, n>1⟹∃s multiset of primes, ∣s∣≤85, ∑s=n.

This is the campaign template with the value 858585 filled in.

How the bound arises

Let B={(p−3)/2:p odd prime}B = \{(p-3)/2 : p \text{ odd prime}\}B={(p−3)/2:p odd prime} and A=B+BA = B + BA=B+B. We show σ(A)≥1/42\sigma(A) \ge 1/42σ(A)≥1/42, then conclude with Mann's theorem as in the 241241241 entry. Write L=log⁡yL = \log yL=logy for the scale.

  1. Chebyshev's constant a≈0.9212a \approx 0.9212a≈0.9212. For x≥30x \ge 30x≥30, ψ(x)≥ax−5log⁡x+5\psi(x) \ge ax - 5\log x + 5ψ(x)≥ax−5logx+5 with a=715log⁡2+310log⁡3+16log⁡5a = \tfrac{7}{15}\log 2 + \tfrac{3}{10}\log 3 + \tfrac16 \log 5a=157​log2+103​log3+61​log5 (Chebyshev's argument with log⁡⌊x⌋!\log \lfloor x \rfloor!log⌊x⌋! and Stirling-type bounds; ported from the PrimeNumberTheoremAnd library with explicit bounds for log⁡3\log 3log3 and log⁡5\log 5log5). Since ψ(x)≤π(x)log⁡x\psi(x) \le \pi(x)\log xψ(x)≤π(x)logx, this gives π(x)≥(ax−O(log⁡x))/log⁡x\pi(x) \ge (ax - O(\log x))/\log xπ(x)≥(ax−O(logx))/logx. On its own it covers L≲76L \lesssim 76L≲76 through B⊆AB \subseteq AB⊆A.
  2. Small-shift range (Riesel–Vaughan 1983, Lemma 8), 76≤L≤700076 \le L \le 700076≤L≤7000. Fix the first 300300300 odd primes p1≤1993p_1 \le 1993p1​≤1993 and let R(s)R(s)R(s) count s=p1+qs = p_1 + qs=p1​+q with qqq prime. Then ∑sR(s)\sum_s R(s)∑s​R(s) needs only the lower bound for π\piπ, and ∑sR(s)2\sum_s R(s)^2∑s​R(s)2 needs an upper bound for prime pairs q,q+dq, q + dq,q+d with a fixed even shift ddd. That bound is the Selberg sieve for a(a+d)a(a+d)a(a+d) on an interval, whose local data are those of the existing Goldbach sieve with s:=ds := ds:=d. The weight sum ∑p1≠p2C(p1−p2)\sum_{p_1 \ne p_2} C(p_1 - p_2)∑p1​=p2​​C(p1​−p2​) over these primes is a finite kernel computation. Cauchy–Schwarz then gives #{s≤y:R(s)>0}≥y/83\#\{s \le y : R(s) > 0\} \ge y/83#{s≤y:R(s)>0}≥y/83 on this range.
  3. Large range L≥7000L \ge 7000L≥7000: the Selberg pointwise bound r(s)≤b C(s) s/log⁡2sr(s) \le b\,C(s)\,s/\log^2 sr(s)≤bC(s)s/log2s with b=8.13b = 8.13b=8.13, the weighted first moment (now with constant a2a^2a2), the sixteenth moment of C(s)C(s)C(s), and Hölder, as in the 241241241 entry, at a much higher threshold.
  4. Mann's theorem turns 42 σ(A)≥142\,\sigma(A) \ge 142σ(A)≥1 into 42A=Z≥042A = \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}42A=Z≥0​, so every odd n≥171n \ge 171n≥171 is a sum of exactly 858585 primes (848484 odd primes plus one 333, padded with twos and threes for small nnn), and small nnn are handled with twos and threes: K=2⋅42+1=85K = 2 \cdot 42 + 1 = 85K=2⋅42+1=85.

Significance

The argument stays elementary: no prime number theorem and no zeros of ζ\zetaζ or LLL-functions. New reusable components:

  1. Explicit Selberg upper bound for prime pairs (q,q+d)(q, q+d)(q,q+d) with a fixed shift, uniform in ddd.
  2. The Riesel–Vaughan small-shift second-moment argument.
  3. A self-contained Lean proof of Chebyshev's lower bound ψ(x)≥ax−5log⁡x+5\psi(x) \ge ax - 5\log x + 5ψ(x)≥ax−5logx+5 (a≈0.9212a \approx 0.9212a≈0.9212), carried into the sieve moments.

Formalization scope

The Lean statement is the campaign template verbatim with 858585 in place of the value. Already proved on the platform: Schnir.sieve_ineq, Schnir.G_lower, Schnir.basis_of_density. Mathlib supplies the Chebyshev function ψ\psiψ with ψ(x)≤π(x)log⁡x\psi(x) \le \pi(x)\log xψ(x)≤π(x)logx and the Λ² sieve framework.

Selected references

  • H. Riesel, R. C. Vaughan, On sums of primes, Ark. Mat. 21 (1983), 45–74.
  • P. Pollack, Not Always Buried Deep, AMS, 2009, Chapter 6, §6. https://www.pollack-math.net/NABDofficial.pdf
  • K. S. Kedlaya, Notes on Analytic Number Theory, Chapter 13, "The Selberg sieve". https://kskedlaya.org/ant/chap-selberg.html
  • O. Ramaré, On Šnirel'man's constant, Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa (4) 22 (1995), 645–706.
  • T. Tao, Every odd number greater than 1 is the sum of at most five primes, Math. Comp. 83 (2014). https://arxiv.org/abs/1201.6656
  • Chebyshev's lower bound as formalized in PrimeNumberTheoremAnd (PrimeNumberTheoremAnd/IEANTN/Chebyshev.lean).
  • Explicit improvement of the 151151151 constant (unpublished AI-assisted calculation, October 2026). Source of the constant 858585; not peer reviewed.
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Number Theory·Captain: xuanji

Every Odd Number Greater Than 1 is the Sum of at Most 159 PrimesResearch Paper

Motivation

Schnirelmann showed around 1930, by elementary means, that some absolute constant kkk makes every integer n>1n > 1n>1 a sum of at most kkk primes. For odd nnn:

  • Schnirelmann (1930s): some finite kkk, by elementary methods.
  • Klimov, Pil'tai, Sheptitskaya (1972): 115115115; Riesel–Vaughan (1983): 191919 for all integers, using zero-based prime-counting estimates.
  • Ramaré (1995): every even integer is a sum of at most six primes, so every odd n>1n > 1n>1 is a sum of at most seven. (Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa, 1995)
  • Tao (2014): at most five primes. (arXiv:1201.6656)
  • Helfgott (2013): every odd n>5n > 5n>5 is a sum of three primes. (arXiv:1312.7748)

The campaign's earlier values (100 001100\,001100001 down to 241241241) came from Schnirelmann's method with every constant written out. Those arguments stall near 241241241 because the medium range relies only on a Chebyshev lower bound for π(y)\pi(y)π(y). This entry adds the small-shift idea of Riesel and Vaughan, which removes that bottleneck without any zeta-zero input.

Setting

A representation of nnn as a sum of at most kkk primes is a finite multiset of primes summing to nnn with at most kkk elements counted with multiplicity. The Schnirelmann density of A⊆Z≥0A \subseteq \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}A⊆Z≥0​ is σ(A)=inf⁡N≥1∣A∩{1,…,N}∣/N\sigma(A) = \inf_{N \ge 1} |A \cap \{1, \dots, N\}|/Nσ(A)=infN≥1​∣A∩{1,…,N}∣/N (Mathlib: schnirelmannDensity).

Formalization target

Goal

∀n∈N,n odd, n>1  ⟹  ∃ s multiset of primes, ∣s∣≤159, ∑s=n.\forall n \in \mathbb{N},\quad n \text{ odd},\ n > 1 \implies \exists\, s \text{ multiset of primes},\ |s| \le 159,\ \textstyle\sum s = n.∀n∈N,n odd, n>1⟹∃s multiset of primes, ∣s∣≤159, ∑s=n.

This is the campaign template with the value 159159159 filled in.

How the bound arises

Let B={(p−3)/2:p odd prime}B = \{(p-3)/2 : p \text{ odd prime}\}B={(p−3)/2:p odd prime} and A=B+BA = B + BA=B+B. We show σ(A)≥1/79\sigma(A) \ge 1/79σ(A)≥1/79, then conclude with Mann's theorem as in the 241241241 entry. Write L=log⁡yL = \log yL=logy for the scale.

  1. Chebyshev constant log⁡2\log 2log2. Mathlib's ψ(x)≥(x−1)log⁡2−log⁡(x+2)\psi(x) \ge (x-1)\log 2 - \log(x+2)ψ(x)≥(x−1)log2−log(x+2) gives π(x)≥(xlog⁡2−O(log⁡x))/log⁡x\pi(x) \ge (x \log 2 - O(\log x))/\log xπ(x)≥(xlog2−O(logx))/logx, better than the constant 2/32/32/3 used in earlier entries. On its own it covers L≲90L \lesssim 90L≲90 through B⊆AB \subseteq AB⊆A.
  2. Small-shift range (Riesel–Vaughan 1983, Lemma 8). Fix the first 150150150 odd primes p1p_1p1​ (up to 877877877) and let R(s)R(s)R(s) count s=p1+qs = p_1 + qs=p1​+q with qqq prime. Then ∑sR(s)\sum_s R(s)∑s​R(s) needs only π\piπ, and ∑sR(s)2\sum_s R(s)^2∑s​R(s)2 needs an upper bound for prime pairs q,q+dq, q + dq,q+d with a fixed even shift ddd. That bound is the Selberg sieve for a(a+d)a(a+d)a(a+d) on an interval, whose local data are those of the existing Goldbach sieve with s:=ds := ds:=d. The weight sum ∑p1≠p2C(p1−p2)\sum_{p_1 \ne p_2} C(p_1 - p_2)∑p1​=p2​​C(p1​−p2​) over these primes is a finite computation. Cauchy–Schwarz then gives #{s≤y:R(s)>0}≥y/158\#\{s \le y : R(s) > 0\} \ge y/158#{s≤y:R(s)>0}≥y/158 for 90≲L≤300090 \lesssim L \le 300090≲L≤3000.
  3. Large range L≥3000L \ge 3000L≥3000: the Selberg pointwise bound r(s)≤b C(s) s/log⁡2sr(s) \le b\,C(s)\,s/\log^2 sr(s)≤bC(s)s/log2s, the weighted first moment (now with constant (log⁡2)2(\log 2)^2(log2)2), a high moment of C(s)C(s)C(s), and Hölder, as in the 241241241 entry, at a much higher threshold.
  4. Mann's theorem turns 79 σ(A)≥179\,\sigma(A) \ge 179σ(A)≥1 into 79A=Z≥079A = \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}79A=Z≥0​, so every odd nnn beyond a small bound is a sum of 158158158 odd primes plus one 333, and small nnn are handled with twos and threes: K=2⋅79+1=159K = 2 \cdot 79 + 1 = 159K=2⋅79+1=159.

Significance

The argument stays elementary: no prime number theorem and no zeros of ζ\zetaζ or LLL-functions. New reusable components:

  1. Explicit Selberg upper bound for prime pairs (q,q+d)(q, q+d)(q,q+d) with a fixed shift, uniform in ddd.
  2. The Riesel–Vaughan small-shift second-moment argument.
  3. Chebyshev's log⁡2\log 2log2 constant from Mathlib carried into the sieve moments.

Formalization scope

The Lean statement is the campaign template verbatim with 159159159 in place of the value. Already proved on the platform: Schnir.sieve_ineq, Schnir.G_lower, Schnir.pi_lower, Schnir.basis_of_density. Mathlib supplies the Chebyshev bounds (Chebyshev.psi_ge', Chebyshev.theta_le_log4_mul_x) and the Λ² sieve framework (Mathlib.NumberTheory.SelbergSieve).

Selected references

  • H. Riesel, R. C. Vaughan, On sums of primes, Ark. Mat. 21 (1983), 45–74.
  • P. Pollack, Not Always Buried Deep, AMS, 2009, Chapter 6, §6. https://www.pollack-math.net/NABDofficial.pdf
  • K. S. Kedlaya, Notes on Analytic Number Theory, Chapter 13, "The Selberg sieve". https://kskedlaya.org/ant/chap-selberg.html
  • O. Ramaré, On Šnirel'man's constant, Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa (4) 22 (1995), 645–706.
  • T. Tao, Every odd number greater than 1 is the sum of at most five primes, Math. Comp. 83 (2014). https://arxiv.org/abs/1201.6656
  • Explicit improvement of the 241241241 constant (unpublished AI-assisted calculation, October 2026). Source of the constant 159159159; not peer reviewed.
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Number Theory·Captain: xuanji

Every Odd Number Greater Than 1 is the Sum of at Most 151 PrimesResearch Paper

Motivation

Schnirelmann showed around 1930, by elementary means, that some absolute constant kkk makes every integer n>1n > 1n>1 a sum of at most kkk primes. For odd nnn:

  • Schnirelmann (1930s): some finite kkk, by elementary methods.
  • Klimov, Pil'tai, Sheptitskaya (1972): 115115115; Riesel–Vaughan (1983): 191919 for all integers, using zero-based prime-counting estimates.
  • Ramaré (1995): every even integer is a sum of at most six primes, so every odd n>1n > 1n>1 is a sum of at most seven. (Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa, 1995)
  • Tao (2014): at most five primes. (arXiv:1201.6656)
  • Helfgott (2013): every odd n>5n > 5n>5 is a sum of three primes. (arXiv:1312.7748)

The campaign's earlier values (100 001100\,001100001 down to 241241241) came from Schnirelmann's method with every constant written out. Those arguments stall near 241241241 because the medium range relies only on a Chebyshev lower bound for π(y)\pi(y)π(y). This entry adds the small-shift idea of Riesel and Vaughan, which removes that bottleneck without any zeta-zero input.

Setting

A representation of nnn as a sum of at most kkk primes is a finite multiset of primes summing to nnn with at most kkk elements counted with multiplicity. The Schnirelmann density of A⊆Z≥0A \subseteq \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}A⊆Z≥0​ is σ(A)=inf⁡N≥1∣A∩{1,…,N}∣/N\sigma(A) = \inf_{N \ge 1} |A \cap \{1, \dots, N\}|/Nσ(A)=infN≥1​∣A∩{1,…,N}∣/N (Mathlib: schnirelmannDensity).

Formalization target

Goal

∀n∈N,n odd, n>1  ⟹  ∃ s multiset of primes, ∣s∣≤151, ∑s=n.\forall n \in \mathbb{N},\quad n \text{ odd},\ n > 1 \implies \exists\, s \text{ multiset of primes},\ |s| \le 151,\ \textstyle\sum s = n.∀n∈N,n odd, n>1⟹∃s multiset of primes, ∣s∣≤151, ∑s=n.

This is the campaign template with the value 151151151 filled in.

How the bound arises

Let B={(p−3)/2:p odd prime}B = \{(p-3)/2 : p \text{ odd prime}\}B={(p−3)/2:p odd prime} and A=B+BA = B + BA=B+B. We show σ(A)≥1/75\sigma(A) \ge 1/75σ(A)≥1/75, then conclude with Mann's theorem as in the 241241241 entry. Write L=log⁡yL = \log yL=logy for the scale.

  1. Chebyshev constant log⁡2\log 2log2. Mathlib's ψ(x)≥(x−1)log⁡2−log⁡(x+2)\psi(x) \ge (x-1)\log 2 - \log(x+2)ψ(x)≥(x−1)log2−log(x+2) gives π(x)≥(xlog⁡2−O(log⁡x))/log⁡x\pi(x) \ge (x \log 2 - O(\log x))/\log xπ(x)≥(xlog2−O(logx))/logx, better than the constant 2/32/32/3 used in earlier entries. On its own it covers L≲90L \lesssim 90L≲90 through B⊆AB \subseteq AB⊆A.
  2. Small-shift range (Riesel–Vaughan 1983, Lemma 8). Fix the first 500500500 odd primes p1p_1p1​ (up to 358135813581) and let R(s)R(s)R(s) count s=p1+qs = p_1 + qs=p1​+q with qqq prime. Then ∑sR(s)\sum_s R(s)∑s​R(s) needs only π\piπ, and ∑sR(s)2\sum_s R(s)^2∑s​R(s)2 needs an upper bound for prime pairs q,q+dq, q + dq,q+d with a fixed even shift ddd. That bound is the Selberg sieve for a(a+d)a(a+d)a(a+d) on an interval, whose local data are those of the existing Goldbach sieve with s:=ds := ds:=d. The weight sum ∑p1≠p2C(p1−p2)\sum_{p_1 \ne p_2} C(p_1 - p_2)∑p1​=p2​​C(p1​−p2​) over these primes is a finite computation. Cauchy–Schwarz then gives #{s≤y:R(s)>0}≥y/150\#\{s \le y : R(s) > 0\} \ge y/150#{s≤y:R(s)>0}≥y/150 for 90≲L≤10490 \lesssim L \le 10^490≲L≤104.
  3. Large range L≥104L \ge 10^4L≥104: the Selberg pointwise bound r(s)≤b C(s) s/log⁡2sr(s) \le b\,C(s)\,s/\log^2 sr(s)≤bC(s)s/log2s, the weighted first moment (now with constant (log⁡2)2(\log 2)^2(log2)2), a high moment of C(s)C(s)C(s), and Hölder, as in the 241241241 entry, at a much higher threshold.
  4. Mann's theorem turns 75 σ(A)≥175\,\sigma(A) \ge 175σ(A)≥1 into 75A=Z≥075A = \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}75A=Z≥0​, so every odd nnn beyond a small bound is a sum of 150150150 odd primes plus one 333, and small nnn are handled with twos and threes: K=2⋅75+1=151K = 2 \cdot 75 + 1 = 151K=2⋅75+1=151.

Significance

The argument stays elementary: no prime number theorem and no zeros of ζ\zetaζ or LLL-functions. New reusable components:

  1. Explicit Selberg upper bound for prime pairs (q,q+d)(q, q+d)(q,q+d) with a fixed shift, uniform in ddd.
  2. The Riesel–Vaughan small-shift second-moment argument.
  3. Chebyshev's log⁡2\log 2log2 constant from Mathlib carried into the sieve moments.

Formalization scope

The Lean statement is the campaign template verbatim with 151151151 in place of the value. Already proved on the platform: Schnir.sieve_ineq, Schnir.G_lower, Schnir.pi_lower, Schnir.basis_of_density. Mathlib supplies the Chebyshev bounds (Chebyshev.psi_ge', Chebyshev.theta_le_log4_mul_x) and the Λ² sieve framework (Mathlib.NumberTheory.SelbergSieve).

Selected references

  • H. Riesel, R. C. Vaughan, On sums of primes, Ark. Mat. 21 (1983), 45–74.
  • P. Pollack, Not Always Buried Deep, AMS, 2009, Chapter 6, §6. https://www.pollack-math.net/NABDofficial.pdf
  • K. S. Kedlaya, Notes on Analytic Number Theory, Chapter 13, "The Selberg sieve". https://kskedlaya.org/ant/chap-selberg.html
  • O. Ramaré, On Šnirel'man's constant, Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa (4) 22 (1995), 645–706.
  • T. Tao, Every odd number greater than 1 is the sum of at most five primes, Math. Comp. 83 (2014). https://arxiv.org/abs/1201.6656
  • Explicit improvement of the 241241241 constant (unpublished AI-assisted calculation, October 2026). Source of the constant 151151151; not peer reviewed.
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Number Theory·Captain: xuanji

Every Odd Number Greater Than 1 is the Sum of at Most 241 PrimesResearch Paper

Motivation

Schnirelmann showed around 1930, by elementary means, that some absolute constant kkk makes every integer n>1n > 1n>1 a sum of at most kkk primes. For odd nnn:

  • Schnirelmann (1930s): some finite kkk, by elementary methods.
  • Vinogradov (1937): every sufficiently large odd integer is a sum of three primes.
  • Ramaré (1995): every even integer is a sum of at most six primes, so every odd n>1n > 1n>1 is a sum of at most seven. (Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa, 1995)
  • Tao (2014): at most five primes. (arXiv:1201.6656)
  • Helfgott (2013): every odd n>5n > 5n>5 is a sum of three primes. (arXiv:1312.7748)

The campaign's first proved value, 100 001100\,001100001, came from Schnirelmann's method with every constant written out. This entry records a sharper value, 241241241, from the same elementary circle of ideas.

Setting

A representation of nnn as a sum of at most kkk primes is a finite multiset of primes summing to nnn with at most kkk elements counted with multiplicity. The Schnirelmann density of A⊆Z≥0A \subseteq \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}A⊆Z≥0​ is σ(A)=inf⁡N≥1∣A∩{1,…,N}∣/N\sigma(A) = \inf_{N \ge 1} |A \cap \{1, \dots, N\}|/Nσ(A)=infN≥1​∣A∩{1,…,N}∣/N (Mathlib: schnirelmannDensity).

Formalization target

Goal

∀n∈N,n odd, n>1  ⟹  ∃ s multiset of primes, ∣s∣≤241, ∑s=n.\forall n \in \mathbb{N},\quad n \text{ odd},\ n > 1 \implies \exists\, s \text{ multiset of primes},\ |s| \le 241,\ \textstyle\sum s = n.∀n∈N,n odd, n>1⟹∃s multiset of primes, ∣s∣≤241, ∑s=n.

This is the campaign template with the value 241241241 filled in. The argument proves the stronger statement that every odd n≥483n \ge 483n≥483 is a sum of exactly 241241241 primes; the at-most form for all odd n>1n > 1n>1 follows.

How the bound arises

It follows the companion 351351351 entry, with every parameter pushed to the limit of the same tools. Let B={(p−3)/2:p odd prime}B = \{(p-3)/2 : p \text{ odd prime}\}B={(p−3)/2:p odd prime} and A=B+BA = B + BA=B+B. We show σ(A)≥1/120\sigma(A) \ge 1/120σ(A)≥1/120:

  1. Sieve at a low threshold. The explicit Selberg inequality with z=s/(log⁡s)2z = \sqrt{s}/(\log s)^2z=s​/(logs)2 gives r(s)≤454 C(s) s/(log⁡s)2r(s) \le \tfrac{45}{4}\,C(s)\,s/(\log s)^2r(s)≤445​C(s)s/(logs)2 for even s≥e130s \ge e^{130}s≥e130, where r(s)r(s)r(s) counts representations s=p+qs = p + qs=p+q by odd primes and C(s)=∏p∣s(1+p/(p−1)2)C(s) = \prod_{p \mid s}\bigl(1 + p/(p-1)^2\bigr)C(s)=∏p∣s​(1+p/(p−1)2).
  2. Weighted first moment. ∑e130<s≤xr(s) (log⁡s)2/s≥0.439 x\sum_{e^{130} < s \le x} r(s)\,(\log s)^2/s \ge 0.439\,x∑e130<s≤x​r(s)(logs)2/s≥0.439x for x≥e159x \ge e^{159}x≥e159.
  3. Sixteenth moment of CCC. Expanding C(s)16C(s)^{16}C(s)16 over squarefree divisors, treating the primes up to 313131 exactly and bounding the tail in one step, gives ∑s≤x, 2∣sC(s)16≤9.44⋅1012 x\sum_{s \le x,\, 2 \mid s} C(s)^{16} \le 9.44 \cdot 10^{12}\, x∑s≤x,2∣s​C(s)16≤9.44⋅1012x.
  4. Hölder with exponent 161616 then gives #{s≤x:r(s)>0}≥x/238\#\{s \le x : r(s) > 0\} \ge x/238#{s≤x:r(s)>0}≥x/238 for x≥e159x \ge e^{159}x≥e159. Below that scale, Chebyshev's bound π(y)−1≥2y/(3log⁡y)\pi(y) - 1 \ge 2y/(3 \log y)π(y)−1≥2y/(3logy) and B⊆AB \subseteq AB⊆A suffice, so σ(A)≥1/120\sigma(A) \ge 1/120σ(A)≥1/120 at every scale.
  5. Mann's theorem, σ(D+E)≥min⁡{1,σ(D)+σ(E)}\sigma(D + E) \ge \min\{1, \sigma(D) + \sigma(E)\}σ(D+E)≥min{1,σ(D)+σ(E)} for sets containing 000, gives 120A=Z≥0120A = \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}120A=Z≥0​, so 240B=Z≥0240B = \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}240B=Z≥0​. For odd n≥3K=723n \ge 3K = 723n≥3K=723, write (n−3K)/2(n - 3K)/2(n−3K)/2 as a sum of 240240240 elements of BBB and add one more 333. For 483≤n<723483 \le n < 723483≤n<723, use n−2Kn - 2Kn−2K threes and 3K−n3K - n3K−n twos. This gives K=241K = 241K=241.

About 241241241 is the floor of this method: the medium range relies on the Chebyshev constant 2/32/32/3, which forces the sieve threshold below e4k/3e^{4k/3}e4k/3 and so inflates the sieve coefficient.

Significance

The bound is far weaker than Tao's 555 or Helfgott's 333, but it rests on an elementary argument with no "sufficiently large" threshold and no prime number theorem, so it is a realistic target for a complete formalization. Reusable components:

  1. Explicit Chebyshev-type lower bound for π(y)\pi(y)π(y).
  2. Explicit Selberg upper-bound sieve for r(s)r(s)r(s) at an arbitrary threshold.
  3. High moments ∑s≤xC(s)q\sum_{s \le x} C(s)^{q}∑s≤x​C(s)q of the singular-series factor.
  4. Mann's theorem (αβ\alpha\betaαβ theorem) on Schnirelmann density.

Formalization scope

The Lean statement is the campaign template verbatim with 241241241 in place of the value. All the ingredients above except the moment bound and the final assembly are already proved on the platform (Schnir.sieve_ineq, Schnir.G_lower, Schnir.pi_lower, Schnir.basis_of_density).

Selected references

  • P. Pollack, Not Always Buried Deep, AMS, 2009, Chapter 6, §6. https://www.pollack-math.net/NABDofficial.pdf
  • K. S. Kedlaya, Notes on Analytic Number Theory, Chapter 13, "The Selberg sieve". https://kskedlaya.org/ant/chap-selberg.html
  • O. Ramaré, On Šnirel'man's constant, Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa (4) 22 (1995), 645–706.
  • T. Tao, Every odd number greater than 1 is the sum of at most five primes, Math. Comp. 83 (2014). https://arxiv.org/abs/1201.6656
  • H. A. Helfgott, The ternary Goldbach conjecture is true, 2013. https://arxiv.org/abs/1312.7748
  • Explicit improvement of the 100 001100\,001100001 constant (unpublished AI-assisted calculation, October 2026), extending the 351351351 entry. Source of the constant 241241241; not peer reviewed.
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Dynamical SystemsFunctional Analysis·Captain: dbenbenn

Connes–Feldman–Weiss: an amenable equivalence relation is generated by a single transformationResearch Paper

This mission formalizes A. Connes, J. Feldman and B. Weiss, An amenable equivalence relation is generated by a single transformation, Ergodic Theory Dynam. Systems 1 (1981) 431–450 (doi:10.1017/S014338570000136X).

Motivation

A countable group acting on a measure space partitions it into countable orbits, and much of ergodic theory studies actions only through this orbit equivalence relation. The simplest relations are those of a single transformation, the orbits of an action of Z\mathbb ZZ. Connes, Feldman and Weiss characterize exactly which relations are of this kind, up to null sets: the amenable ones, those carrying an invariant mean. Since the orbit relation of any action of a countable amenable group is amenable, every such action is orbit equivalent to an action of Z\mathbb ZZ. The same theorem gives the uniqueness of Cartan subalgebras in hyperfinite von Neumann algebras.

On this platform it is the missing link in the Lodha–Moore mission, which passes between Lodha and Moore's definition of a μ\muμ-amenable relation (an orbit relation of Z\mathbb ZZ off a null set) and the invariant-mean definition of the Monod bundle: one direction is proved, the other (LodhaMoore.isMuAmenable_of_isAmenableRel) is this mission's goal in Lodha and Moore's language.

Timeline.

  • 1959, 1963: Dye proves orbit equivalence for measure-preserving actions of abelian groups and groups of polynomial growth (doi:10.2307/2372852, doi:10.2307/2373108).
  • 1976: Krieger classifies non-singular transformations up to orbit equivalence (doi:10.1007/BF01360278).
  • 1977: Feldman and Moore set up countable Borel equivalence relations and their von Neumann algebras (doi:10.1090/S0002-9947-1977-0578656-4).
  • 1978: Zimmer introduces amenable actions and shows that discrete subgroups act amenably on G/PG/PG/P for PPP amenable (doi:10.1016/0022-1236(78)90013-7).
  • 1980: Ornstein and Weiss prove that every measure-preserving action of a countable amenable group is orbit equivalent to an action of Z\mathbb ZZ (doi:10.1090/S0273-0979-1980-14702-3).
  • 1981: Connes, Feldman and Weiss prove it for every amenable non-singular countable equivalence relation, without a group.
  • 2004: Kechris and Miller give a detailed modern account in Topics in orbit equivalence (doi:10.1007/b99421).

Setting

XXX is a standard Borel space with a σ\sigmaσ-finite measure μ\muμ. A discrete measured equivalence relation (IsDiscreteMeasured μ R) is a Borel equivalence relation R⊆X×XR \subseteq X \times XR⊆X×X whose classes are countable and for which μ\muμ is quasi-invariant: the saturation R(A)={x∣∃y∈A,(x,y)∈R}R(A) = \{x \mid \exists y \in A, (x, y) \in R\}R(A)={x∣∃y∈A,(x,y)∈R} of a null Borel set AAA is null.

RRR carries the measure m=∫νx dμ(x)m = \int \nu^x\, d\mu(x)m=∫νxdμ(x), νx\nu^xνx the counting measure on the class of xxx (relMeasure), and the module δ\deltaδ, the density of mmm against its image under (x,y)↦(y,x)(x, y) \mapsto (y, x)(x,y)↦(y,x) (module). A partial transformation of RRR is a Borel bijection between Borel subsets of XXX whose graph lies in RRR (Monod.PartialTransformation).

RRR is amenable (Monod.IsAmenableRel) when it has a left invariant mean: a positive normalized map PPP from bounded functions on RRR to bounded functions on XXX with P(fϕ)=(Pf)ϕP(f^\phi) = (Pf)^\phiP(fϕ)=(Pf)ϕ for every partial transformation ϕ\phiϕ (Definitions 5–6). RRR is of type I (IsTypeI) when, off a null saturated set, its quotient is a standard Borel space, and hyperfinite (IsHyperfinite) when, off a null set, it is a countable increasing union of type I equivalence relations (Definition 1). A finite subequivalence relation (IsFiniteSubrelation) is a Borel T⊆RT \subseteq RT⊆R that is an equivalence relation with finite classes on T(0)={x∣(x,x)∈T}T^{(0)} = \{x \mid (x, x) \in T\}T(0)={x∣(x,x)∈T}.

Formalization targets

Goal (p. 431)

For RRR amenable there are a non-singular Borel automorphism TTT of XXX and a null set NNN with

(x,y)∈R  ⟺  ∃n∈Z, y=Tnx(x,y∉N).(x, y) \in R \iff \exists n \in \mathbb Z,\ y = T^n x \qquad (x, y \notin N).(x,y)∈R⟺∃n∈Z, y=Tnx(x,y∈/N).

Milestones

  • §1 (p. 434): the type I criterion; hyperfinite relations are those generated by one automorphism (Dye, external); subrelations of hyperfinite relations are hyperfinite.
  • §§2–3: Lemma 2 (disintegration over a finite subrelation), Feldman and Moore's Theorem 1 (external, as the proof of Lemma 3 applies it), Lemma 3 (bounded sets), Lemma 4 (local triviality).
  • §§5–6: Lemma 8 (the Følner condition), Lemma 9 (approximation by finite subrelations), Theorem 10 (hyperfinite if and only if amenable).
  • §7: Corollary 12, Corollary 13 (Vershik), and Corollary 14 with the amenability of the action it rests on (Zimmer, external).

Significance

The result. Theorem 10 turns amenability, which is usually easy to check, into hyperfiniteness, which is the structure one wants: for instance, the action of SL2(Z)\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb Z)SL2​(Z) on the projective line, or of any discrete group on G/PG/PG/P with PPP amenable, is generated by a single transformation. On this platform it closes the open direction, LodhaMoore.isMuAmenable_of_isAmenableRel, and with it Lodha and Moore's Theorem 2.1.

Formalizing it. No machine-checked proof of the theorem exists, in Mathlib or elsewhere as far as a search finds; Mathlib has no theory of countable Borel equivalence relations. A complete development builds that theory from the descriptive set theory Mathlib has.

Difficulty

The theorem is about relations without a group. The obvious route, through a countable group generating RRR and an amenability of that group, is unavailable: the orbit relation of a nonamenable group, such as SL2(Z)\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb Z)SL2​(Z) acting on the projective line, can be amenable, and there is no group whose Følner sets one could use. The Følner sets of Lemma 8 have to be produced from the invariant mean on the relation itself, which needs duality between L1L^1L1 and L∞L^\inftyL∞ and convexity arguments. Underneath, even the basic facts used in §§1–3 (that RRR is a countable union of graphs of Borel automorphisms, that mmm is a measure, that saturations of Borel sets are Borel) rest on the Lusin–Novikov uniformization theorem, which is not in Mathlib. It is published here as standalone theorems: a Borel set with countable sections is a countable union of Borel graphs, and a countable-to-one Borel map is injective on countably many Borel pieces covering its domain.

Formalization scope

All statements carry the hypotheses of §1: XXX standard Borel (StandardBorelSpace), μ\muμ σ\sigmaσ-finite, RRR a Borel equivalence relation with countable classes and μ\muμ quasi-invariant. Lemmas 8 and 9 take μ\muμ a probability measure, as the paper's proof of Lemma 9 does. “Up to a null set” is read as “off a μ\muμ-null Borel set of points”, which by quasi-invariance agrees with the paper's mmm-null sets. Amenability is the published Monod definition, an invariant mean on bounded measurable functions modulo null sets; it is not trivial (the relation of PSL2(A)\mathrm{PSL}_2(A)PSL2​(A) for a countable dense subring AAA of R\mathbb RR is not amenable, Monod.not_isAmenableRel_mob).

The definitions are in the definition bundle ConnesFeldmanWeiss. Reusable beyond this mission: the Feldman–Moore theorem and the basic theory of countable Borel equivalence relations, both welcome as standalone theorems.

What is left out. Proposition 7 and Corollary 11 need the von Neumann algebra of a relation and its Cartan subalgebras, which Mathlib does not have. The final part of the paper (Lemma 15 to Corollary 21) treats relations with uncountable classes through transverse functions, including foliations; it is a different setting with its own definitions.

Selected references

  • A. Connes, J. Feldman, B. Weiss, An amenable equivalence relation is generated by a single transformation, Ergodic Theory Dynam. Systems 1 (1981) 431–450. doi:10.1017/S014338570000136X
  • H. A. Dye, On groups of measure preserving transformations. I, Amer. J. Math. 81 (1959) 119–159. doi:10.2307/2372852
  • J. Feldman, C. C. Moore, Ergodic equivalence relations, cohomology, and von Neumann algebras. I, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 234 (1977) 289–324. doi:10.1090/S0002-9947-1977-0578656-4
  • R. J. Zimmer, Amenable ergodic group actions and an application to Poisson boundaries of random walks, J. Funct. Anal. 27 (1978) 350–372. doi:10.1016/0022-1236(78)90013-7
  • D. Ornstein, B. Weiss, Ergodic theory of amenable group actions. I: The Rohlin lemma, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 2 (1980) 161–164. doi:10.1090/S0273-0979-1980-14702-3
  • A. S. Kechris, B. D. Miller, Topics in orbit equivalence, Lecture Notes in Math. 1852, Springer, 2004. doi:10.1007/b99421
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Calculus of VariationsMathematical PhysicsPartial Differential Equations·Captain: shivm

Uniqueness of the Hemispheric Saddle Profile on a Magnetic Sphere (AIM 241)Open Problem

Motivation

Gustafson, Meinert and Melcher construct axisymmetric saddle points of the micromagnetic energy of a spherical shell in two ways (a heat flow, and continuation from an explicit solution at κ=4\kappa=4κ=4). Their Remark 3.18 conjectures that a single uniqueness statement identifies the two; it is problem 241 of the AIM open problem list.

Timeline. 2016: Kravchuk et al. propose the model. 2025: Gustafson–Meinert–Melcher construct the saddle points and state the conjecture.

Setting

For anisotropy κ>0\kappa>0κ>0 the energy of m:S2→S2m:S^2\to S^2m:S2→S2 is Eκ(m)=12∫S2∣∇m∣2+κ (1−(m⋅x)2)\mathcal E_\kappa(m)=\frac12\int_{S^2}|\nabla m|^2+\kappa\,(1-(m\cdot x)^2)Eκ​(m)=21​∫S2​∣∇m∣2+κ(1−(m⋅x)2). An axisymmetric field m=(sin⁡hcos⁡φ, sin⁡hsin⁡φ, cos⁡h)m=(\sin h\cos\varphi,\ \sin h\sin\varphi,\ \cos h)m=(sinhcosφ, sinhsinφ, cosh) with profile h(θ)h(\theta)h(θ) is critical exactly when

h′′+cot⁡θ h′−sin⁡2h2sin⁡2θ−κ2sin⁡(2h−2θ)=0(0<θ<π).(2.6)h''+\cot\theta\,h'-\frac{\sin 2h}{2\sin^2\theta}-\frac{\kappa}{2}\sin(2h-2\theta)=0\qquad(0<\theta<\pi).\tag{2.6}h′′+cotθh′−2sin2θsin2h​−2κ​sin(2h−2θ)=0(0<θ<π).(2.6)

The hemispheric class H0,2H_{0,2}H0,2​ adds h(0)=0h(0)=0h(0)=0, h(π)=2πh(\pi)=2\pih(π)=2π, h(π−θ)=2π−h(θ)h(\pi-\theta)=2\pi-h(\theta)h(π−θ)=2π−h(θ).

Formalization target

For every κ≥4\kappa\ge4κ≥4 there is exactly one smooth profile in H0,2H_{0,2}H0,2​ that solves (2.6) and induces a smooth map S2→S2S^2\to S^2S2→S2. The statement may be proved or disproved.

Significance

Uniqueness would identify the two constructions as one saddle branch; a counterexample would give further degree-zero critical points of Eκ\mathcal E_\kappaEκ​.

Difficulty

(2.6) is singular at both poles and H0,2H_{0,2}H0,2​ is a two-point boundary condition, so standard ODE uniqueness does not apply, and the paper's comparison arguments only control solutions in the wedge θ≤h≤2θ\theta\le h\le 2\thetaθ≤h≤2θ. Numerical evidence (shooting) finds at κ=4\kappa=4κ=4, besides h=2θh=2\thetah=2θ, a second solution in the class with h′(0)≈3.899h'(0)\approx3.899h′(0)≈3.899 (similarly at κ=5,8\kappa=5,8κ=5,8), which leaves the wedge.

Formalization scope

Profiles are functions h:R→Rh:\mathbb R\to\mathbb Rh:R→R; all conditions, and the uniqueness, are imposed on [0,π][0,\pi][0,π] only (values outside are unconstrained, so uniqueness on R\mathbb RR would be trivially false). Smoothness is ContDiffOn ℝ ∞ on [0,π][0,\pi][0,π]. "Induces a smooth map" means the field extended to R3∖{0}\mathbb R^3\setminus\{0\}R3∖{0} as a function of x/∣x∣x/|x|x/∣x∣ is C∞C^\inftyC∞ there; this excludes profiles with a cone singularity at a pole. The paper's H0,2H_{0,2}H0,2​ uses piecewise C1C^1C1 profiles; by its Corollary 2.7 it has the same solutions.

Selected references

  • S. Gustafson, D. Meinert, C. Melcher, Saddle Point Configurations for Spherical Ferromagnets, preprint, 2025. arXiv:2509.05159
  • V. P. Kravchuk et al., Topologically stable magnetization states on a spherical shell: Curvature-stabilized skyrmions, Phys. Rev. B 94, 144402, 2016. DOI
  • AIM open problems list, problem 241. github.com/MColbrook/AIM
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CombinatoricsInformation Theory·Captain: shivm

Periodic Multidimensional Costas Arrays (Rubio–Torres Conjecture 1)Open Problem

Motivation

A Costas array is a permutation matrix in which the difference vectors between distinct dots are pairwise distinct; such arrays are frequency-hopping patterns for sonar and radar (Costas, 1984). Rubio and Torres ask whether their mmm-dimensional version can stay Costas in every window of its periodic extension, and conjecture that this happens only in the smallest order.

Timeline. 1984: Taylor proves that 2D periodic Costas arrays have order ≤2\le 2≤2. 2023: Rubio–Torres prove the odd-order and 3D cases, give 2×2×42\times2\times42×2×4 examples, and state Conjecture 1.

Setting

Let [n]={1,…,n}[n]=\{1,\dots,n\}[n]={1,…,n}, X=[a1]×⋯×[ak]X=[a_1]\times\cdots\times[a_k]X=[a1​]×⋯×[ak​], Y=[b1]×⋯×[bl]Y=[b_1]\times\cdots\times[b_l]Y=[b1​]×⋯×[bl​] with all sides ≥2\ge2≥2, and φ:X→Y\varphi:X\to Yφ:X→Y a bijection; the dots are (x,φ(x))∈Zk+l(x,\varphi(x))\in\mathbb Z^{k+l}(x,φ(x))∈Zk+l. The array is Costas if the difference vectors between distinct dots are distinct, and periodic Costas if moreover, after repeating the dots periodically over Zk+l\mathbb Z^{k+l}Zk+l, the dots inside every translate t+X×Yt+X\times Yt+X×Y have distinct difference vectors.

Formalization target

Conjecture 1: if k≥l≥1k\ge l\ge1k≥l≥1 and φ\varphiφ defines a periodic Costas array, then

∏i=1kai=2k,\prod_{i=1}^k a_i=2^k,i=1∏k​ai​=2k,

equivalently every ai=2a_i=2ai​=2. The condition k≥lk\ge lk≥l is a normalization (φ−1\varphi^{-1}φ−1 swaps the boxes).

Significance

A proof would give the multidimensional analogue of Taylor's theorem; a counterexample would give periodic distinct-difference patterns of non-power-of-two order.

Difficulty

The Rubio–Torres counting argument needs a bound that is available only when YYY is one-dimensional, which is why it stops at m=3m=3m=3. Computational evidence: an exhaustive window check reports that the 2×3×2×32\times3\times2\times32×3×2×3 array with dots (1,1,1,1),(1,2,1,2),(1,3,2,1),(2,1,1,3),(2,2,2,3),(2,3,2,2)(1,1,1,1),(1,2,1,2),(1,3,2,1),(2,1,1,3),(2,2,2,3),(2,3,2,2)(1,1,1,1),(1,2,1,2),(1,3,2,1),(2,1,1,3),(2,2,2,3),(2,3,2,2) is periodic Costas, which would disprove the conjecture.

Formalization scope

A point of Zk+l\mathbb Z^{k+l}Zk+l is a pair (x,y)(x,y)(x,y); boxes are 1-based; φ\varphiφ is a total function Zk→Zl\mathbb Z^k\to\mathbb Z^lZk→Zl whose values off XXX are unused. Differences are plain integer vectors (not reduced modulo the sides), windows range over all t∈Zk+lt\in\mathbb Z^{k+l}t∈Zk+l, and k,l≥1k,l\ge1k,l≥1 and sides ≥2\ge2≥2 are part of the definition, so no degenerate case holds vacuously.

Selected references

  • I. Rubio, J. Torres, Multidimensional Costas Arrays and Their Periodicity, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 69(8), 2023, 5032–5040. arXiv:2208.02378, DOI
  • J. P. Costas, A study of a class of detection waveforms having nearly ideal range-Doppler ambiguity properties, Proc. IEEE 72(8), 1984, 996–1009.
  • S. W. Golomb, H. Taylor, Constructions and properties of Costas arrays, Proc. IEEE 72(9), 1984, 1143–1163.
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Combinatorics·Captain: mysticflounder

Six-colour Schur colourings of [1, 1801] under R₄(3) ≤ 61: balanced classes, nested saturation and forced reflectionResearch Paper

Motivation

The Schur number S(n)S(n)S(n) is the largest NNN such that [1,N]={1,…,N}[1, N] = \{1, \dots, N\}[1,N]={1,…,N} can be partitioned into nnn sumfree sets, sets with no x,y,zx, y, zx,y,z such that x+y=zx + y = zx+y=z (x=yx = yx=y allowed). Schur's argument gives S(n)≤Rn(3)−2S(n) \le R_n(3) - 2S(n)≤Rn​(3)−2, where the triangle Ramsey number Rn(3)R_n(3)Rn​(3) is the least NNN such that every colouring of the edges of KNK_NKN​ with nnn colours has a monochromatic triangle (Fredricksen–Sweet 2000, inequality (2)). Only S(1),…,S(5)=1,4,13,44,160S(1), \dots, S(5) = 1, 4, 13, 44, 160S(1),…,S(5)=1,4,13,44,160 are known (Heule 2018). For six colours the published range is 536≤S(6)≤1836536 \le S(6) \le 1836536≤S(6)≤1836; the upper bound is R6(3)−2R_6(3) - 2R6​(3)−2 with R6(3)≤1838R_6(3) \le 1838R6​(3)≤1838 (DS1, rev. 18).

Timeline.

  • 1955: Greenwood and Gleason prove R3(3)=17R_3(3) = 17R3​(3)=17 and Rn+1(3)≤(n+1)(Rn(3)−1)+2R_{n+1}(3) \le (n+1)(R_n(3) - 1) + 2Rn+1​(3)≤(n+1)(Rn​(3)−1)+2 (Theorem 6) (doi).
  • 1961: Baumert finds S(4)=44S(4) = 44S(4)=44 by computer, as reported by Fredricksen and Sweet; they and Heule cite Golomb–Baumert 1965 for it.
  • 1973: Chung proves R4(3)≥51R_4(3) \ge 51R4​(3)≥51 (doi).
  • 1997: Wan bounds Rn(3)R_n(3)Rn​(3) and, for even n≥6n \ge 6n≥6, states Sn<n! (e−e−1+3)/2−n+2S_n < n!\,(e - e^{-1} + 3)/2 - n + 2Sn​<n!(e−e−1+3)/2−n+2 (zbMATH 0882.05095 summary; doi). If his SnS_nSn​ is the least NNN that forces a monochromatic solution, this is the centred bound below, applied to his own bound on Rn−1(3)R_{n-1}(3)Rn−1​(3); if it is the largest NNN, it is 111 above it. His proof was not read.
  • 2000: Fredricksen and Sweet prove S(6)≥536S(6) \ge 536S(6)≥536 (doi).
  • 2004: Fettes, Kramer and Radziszowski prove R4(3)≤62R_4(3) \le 62R4​(3)≤62 (listed in DS1, which also lists R5(3)≤307R_5(3) \le 307R5​(3)≤307).
  • 2018: Heule proves S(5)=160S(5) = 160S(5)=160 with a certified SAT computation (AAAI-18; preprint arXiv:1711.08076).
  • 2026: a public repository of M. Tatarevic gives a computer-assisted argument for R4(3)≤61R_4(3) \le 61R4​(3)≤61. Its Lean development assumes that a family of 56,830 SAT instances is unsatisfiable, and the repository records solver results for them. The project of this mission's author produced LRAT certificates for all 56,830 instances and checked them; the report is in the repository's issue tracker. This mission does not depend on it.

The first target is a centred-interval bound: if Rk(3)≤rR_k(3) \le rRk​(3)≤r, then S(k+1)≤2(k+1)⌊(r−1)/2⌋+1S(k+1) \le 2(k+1)\lfloor (r-1)/2 \rfloor + 1S(k+1)≤2(k+1)⌊(r−1)/2⌋+1. With R4(3)≤61R_4(3) \le 61R4​(3)≤61 the recursive bound gives R5(3)≤302R_5(3) \le 302R5​(3)≤302, and the centred bound gives S(6)≤1801S(6) \le 1801S(6)≤1801; with R5(3)≤307R_5(3) \le 307R5​(3)≤307 it gives only 183718371837. The mission formalizes what a Schur colouring of [1,1801][1, 1801][1,1801] with six colours would have to look like under R4(3)≤61R_4(3) \le 61R4​(3)≤61.

Setting

All numbers are natural numbers, N={0,1,2,… }\mathbb{N} = \{0, 1, 2, \dots\}N={0,1,2,…}, and [a,b]={a,…,b}[a, b] = \{a, \dots, b\}[a,b]={a,…,b}.

Schur colourings and covers. A colouring with nnn colours is a map c:N→Fin nc : \mathbb{N} \to \mathrm{Fin}\,nc:N→Finn. It is a Schur colouring of [1,N][1, N][1,N] (SchurColoring N c) if there are no x,y≥1x, y \ge 1x,y≥1 with x+y≤Nx + y \le Nx+y≤N and c(x)=c(y)=c(x+y)c(x) = c(y) = c(x + y)c(x)=c(y)=c(x+y), the case x=yx = yx=y included. The cover form uses SumFree S and CoveredBySumFree X n (XXX lies in the union of nnn sumfree sets); for n≥1n \ge 1n≥1 the two bridge theorems pass between the two forms in both directions.

Triangle Ramsey property. TR(k,r)\mathrm{TR}(k, r)TR(k,r) (TriangleRamsey k r): every colouring with at most kkk colours of the pairs x<yx < yx<y of a finite set of at least rrr naturals has a monochromatic triangle. For k≥1k \ge 1k≥1 it is the inequality Rk(3)≤rR_k(3) \le rRk​(3)≤r.

Neighbourhoods. The difference colouring gives a pair {x,y}\{x, y\}{x,y} the colour c(∣x−y∣)c(|x - y|)c(∣x−y∣). For a Schur colouring of [1,N][1, N][1,N] it has no monochromatic triangle on [0,N][0, N][0,N], since (y−x)+(z−y)=z−x(y - x) + (z - y) = z - x(y−x)+(z−y)=z−x. Write

  • Γi(V,v)={ w∈V:w≠v, c(∣v−w∣)=i }\Gamma_i(V, v) = \{\, w \in V : w \ne v,\ c(|v - w|) = i \,\}Γi​(V,v)={w∈V:w=v, c(∣v−w∣)=i} (colorNbhd c V v i);
  • Vm=Γc(m+1)([0,2m+1],m)V_m = \Gamma_{c(m+1)}([0, 2m+1], m)Vm​=Γc(m+1)​([0,2m+1],m), the central neighbourhood (centralNbhd c m), which contains 2m+12m + 12m+1;
  • Pi=Γi(Vm,2m+1)P_i = \Gamma_i(V_m, 2m+1)Pi​=Γi​(Vm​,2m+1), the endpoint neighbourhoods (endpointNbhd c m i).

The frontier. The frontier hypotheses are TR(k,u+1)\mathrm{TR}(k, u + 1)TR(k,u+1), 2t=(k+1)u2t = (k+1)u2t=(k+1)u, m=(k+2)tm = (k+2)tm=(k+2)t, and ccc a Schur colouring of [1,2m+1][1, 2m + 1][1,2m+1] with k+2k + 2k+2 colours. From the first two, TR(k+1,2t+2)\mathrm{TR}(k + 1, 2t + 2)TR(k+1,2t+2) holds, and the centred bound excludes Schur colourings of [1,2m+2][1, 2m + 2][1,2m+2] with k+2k + 2k+2 colours; [1,2m+1][1, 2m + 1][1,2m+1] is the frontier interval. Six colours: k=4k = 4k=4, u=60u = 60u=60, t=150t = 150t=150, m=900m = 900m=900, 2m+1=18012m + 1 = 18012m+1=1801.

Example. For k=1k = 1k=1, u=2u = 2u=2, t=2t = 2t=2, m=6m = 6m=6 (and 13=S(3)13 = S(3)13=S(3)), the classes {1,4,7,10,13}\{1, 4, 7, 10, 13\}{1,4,7,10,13}, {2,3,11,12}\{2, 3, 11, 12\}{2,3,11,12}, {5,6,8,9}\{5, 6, 8, 9\}{5,6,8,9} form a Schur colouring of [1,13][1, 13][1,13], with V6={2,5,7,10,13}V_6 = \{2, 5, 7, 10, 13\}V6​={2,5,7,10,13} and endpoint neighbourhoods {2,10}\{2, 10\}{2,10} and {5,7}\{5, 7\}{5,7}, both closed under x↦12−xx \mapsto 12 - xx↦12−x.

Formalization targets

Goal: six colours under R4(3)≤61R_4(3) \le 61R4​(3)≤61

TR(4,61)  and  c a Schur colouring of [1,1801] with six colours  ⟹  (1)–(5),\mathrm{TR}(4, 61) \ \text{ and } \ c \text{ a Schur colouring of } [1, 1801] \text{ with six colours} \implies (1)\text{–}(5),TR(4,61)  and  c a Schur colouring of [1,1801] with six colours⟹(1)–(5),

where q=c(901)q = c(901)q=c(901), V=V900V = V_{900}V=V900​ and Pi=Γi(V,1801)P_i = \Gamma_i(V, 1801)Pi​=Γi​(V,1801):

  1. each colour occurs 150150150 times in [1,900][1, 900][1,900];
  2. ∣V∣=301|V| = 301∣V∣=301;
  3. ∣Γi(V,v)∣=60|\Gamma_i(V, v)| = 60∣Γi​(V,v)∣=60 for every v∈Vv \in Vv∈V and every colour i≠qi \ne qi=q;
  4. c(901−d)=c(901+d)c(901 - d) = c(901 + d)c(901−d)=c(901+d) for every d∈[1,900]d \in [1, 900]d∈[1,900] with c(d)=qc(d) = qc(d)=q;
  5. for every colour i≠qi \ne qi=q: ∣Pi∣=60|P_i| = 60∣Pi​∣=60; x↦1800−xx \mapsto 1800 - xx↦1800−x maps PiP_iPi​ to itself without fixed points; and c(∣x−y∣)∉{i,q}c(|x - y|) \notin \{i, q\}c(∣x−y∣)∈/{i,q} for distinct x,y∈Pix, y \in P_ix,y∈Pi​.

The goal is a structure theorem under the hypothesis R4(3)≤61R_4(3) \le 61R4​(3)≤61. It does not prove S(6)≤1800S(6) \le 1800S(6)≤1800, and it does not assert that a Schur colouring of [1,1801][1, 1801][1,1801] with six colours exists; whether such a colouring, or the structure it would force, exists is open. The goal is the six-colour instance of the general theorems below.

Centred-interval bound

TR(k,r)  ⟹  [1, 2(k+1)⌊r−12⌋+2] is not covered by k+1 sumfree sets.\mathrm{TR}(k, r) \implies \Bigl[1,\ 2(k+1)\Bigl\lfloor \tfrac{r-1}{2} \Bigr\rfloor + 2\Bigr] \text{ is not covered by } k + 1 \text{ sumfree sets.}TR(k,r)⟹[1, 2(k+1)⌊2r−1​⌋+2] is not covered by k+1 sumfree sets.

Balanced colour classes

TR(k,2t+2), m=(k+1)t, c a Schur colouring of [1,2m+1] with k+1 colours  ⟹  ∣{ d∈[1,m]:c(d)=j }∣=t  for every colour j.\mathrm{TR}(k, 2t + 2),\ m = (k+1)t,\ c \text{ a Schur colouring of } [1, 2m+1] \text{ with } k + 1 \text{ colours} \implies \bigl|\{\, d \in [1, m] : c(d) = j \,\}\bigr| = t \ \text{ for every colour } j.TR(k,2t+2), m=(k+1)t, c a Schur colouring of [1,2m+1] with k+1 colours⟹​{d∈[1,m]:c(d)=j}​=t  for every colour j.

Nested saturation

frontier hypotheses  ⟹  ∣Γi(Vm,v)∣=u(v∈Vm, i≠c(m+1)).\text{frontier hypotheses} \implies |\Gamma_i(V_m, v)| = u \qquad (v \in V_m,\ i \ne c(m+1)).frontier hypotheses⟹∣Γi​(Vm​,v)∣=u(v∈Vm​, i=c(m+1)).

Automorphism extension

For a colouring col\mathrm{col}col of ordered pairs, a finite set WWW, a point e∉We \notin We∈/W and a map JJJ with J(W)⊆WJ(W) \subseteq WJ(W)⊆W, J∘J=idJ \circ J = \mathrm{id}J∘J=id on WWW and col(J(x),J(y))=col(x,y)\mathrm{col}(J(x), J(y)) = \mathrm{col}(x, y)col(J(x),J(y))=col(x,y) on WWW:

v∈W and J(v) have equal colour degrees in W∪{e}  ⟹  col(v,e)=col(J(v),e).v \in W \text{ and } J(v) \text{ have equal colour degrees in } W \cup \{e\} \implies \mathrm{col}(v, e) = \mathrm{col}(J(v), e).v∈W and J(v) have equal colour degrees in W∪{e}⟹col(v,e)=col(J(v),e).

Forced reflection

frontier hypotheses  ⟹  c(m+1−d)=c(m+1+d)(d∈[1,m], c(d)=c(m+1)).\text{frontier hypotheses} \implies c(m + 1 - d) = c(m + 1 + d) \qquad (d \in [1, m],\ c(d) = c(m+1)).frontier hypotheses⟹c(m+1−d)=c(m+1+d)(d∈[1,m], c(d)=c(m+1)).

The saturation degree is even

frontier hypotheses  ⟹  u is even.\text{frontier hypotheses} \implies u \text{ is even}.frontier hypotheses⟹u is even.

Significance

The result itself. Under R4(3)≤61R_4(3) \le 61R4​(3)≤61, S(6)≤1801S(6) \le 1801S(6)≤1801, and the goal constrains a six-colour Schur colouring of [1,1801][1, 1801][1,1801] as listed above. In particular, each of its five endpoint neighbourhoods is a set of 303030 pairs {900−d,900+d}\{900 - d, 900 + d\}{900−d,900+d} whose difference colouring uses at most four colours, is invariant under x↦1800−xx \mapsto 1800 - xx↦1800−x and, like that of every subset of [0,1801][0, 1801][0,1801], has no monochromatic triangle. So such a colouring yields five colourings of K60K_{60}K60​ with at most four colours, no monochromatic triangle and a fixed-point-free colour-preserving involution. A proof that this configuration cannot occur would give S(6)≤1800S(6) \le 1800S(6)≤1800 under the same hypothesis. Whether it can occur, and whether S(6)≤1800S(6) \le 1800S(6)≤1800, are open.

Formalizing it. All 12 theorems of the tree, the goal included, are proved in Lean 4 with Mathlib over the bundles ClassicalSchurBasic, ClassicalSchurRamsey and ClassicalSchurColoring, with the axioms propext, Classical.choice and Quot.sound only. Independent Claude agents checked the Lean: one rebuilt the frontier theorems, re-ran their axiom audit and checked their statements against the argument; another checked every statement of the tree against the mathematics. The mathematics is in the paper S(6)≤1801S(6) \le 1801S(6)≤1801 if R4(3)≤61R_4(3) \le 61R4​(3)≤61: a centred Schur bound and the structure at the frontier (A. McKenna, Zenodo, 2026, doi:10.5281/zenodo.23156099), and the Lean code is in its repository; the paper has not been refereed. R4(3)≤61R_4(3) \le 61R4​(3)≤61 is not formalized in the mission.

Difficulty

The centred bound counts, for one colour class, the points h±ah \pm ah±a around the centre of the interval. At the frontier every such count is tight: each colour has ttt elements in [1,m][1, m][1,m], and inside VmV_mVm​ each colour other than c(m+1)c(m+1)c(m+1) has degree uuu, the largest value that Rk(3)≤u+1R_k(3) \le u + 1Rk​(3)≤u+1 allows. So no single counting step gives a contradiction, and the theorems describe the tight case instead of excluding it. The first exclusion that the structure gives, parity, works only for odd uuu; at six colours u=60u = 60u=60.

The reflection is not a property of Schur colourings in general: the colouring {1,4}\{1, 4\}{1,4}, {2,3}\{2, 3\}{2,3}, {5}\{5\}{5} of [1,5][1, 5][1,5] has c(2)=c(3)c(2) = c(3)c(2)=c(3) but c(1)≠c(5)c(1) \ne c(5)c(1)=c(5). At the frontier the theorem asserts it only for the ddd with c(d)=c(m+1)c(d) = c(m+1)c(d)=c(m+1), so an argument that assumes a fully symmetric colouring proves a different statement. A direct search is no substitute: S(5)=160S(5) = 160S(5)=160 already needed a large certified SAT computation (Heule 2018), and [1,1801][1, 1801][1,1801] with six colours is a much larger instance.

Formalization scope

  • Colourings are functions ℕ → Fin n on all of N\mathbb{N}N; SchurColoring N c constrains only [1,N][1, N][1,N], with x=yx = yx=y allowed. Distances are Nat.dist.
  • Neighbourhoods are Finsets. VmV_mVm​ lies in range (2 * m + 2) =[0,2m+1]= [0, 2m+1]=[0,2m+1], so the point 000 is a candidate member; the centre mmm never is.
  • TriangleRamsey k r takes colours from any Finset of at most kkk naturals; the pair colouring ℕ → ℕ → ℕ is constrained only on the pairs x<yx < yx<y of the vertex set, which is any finite set of naturals. TriangleRamsey k 0 and TriangleRamsey k 1 are false.
  • Covers. CoveredBySumFree X n uses Fin n → Set ℕ; the sets need not be disjoint or lie in XXX.
  • Subtraction is truncated. Under the hypotheses, none of r−1r - 1r−1, N−1N - 1N−1, m+1−dm + 1 - dm+1−d, 2m−x2m - x2m−x (with x∈Pix \in P_ix∈Pi​), 901−d901 - d901−d and 1800−x1800 - x1800−x truncates.
  • No trivialization. The frontier theorems are vacuous for u=0u = 0u=0, and for k=0k = 0k=0 (then [1,2m+1]⊇[1,5][1, 2m + 1] \supseteq [1, 5][1,2m+1]⊇[1,5], while S(2)=4S(2) = 4S(2)=4). For k=1k = 1k=1 they are not: the Schur colourings of [1,13][1, 13][1,13] meet the hypotheses, and every conclusion can be checked by hand. The goal holds vacuously if R4(3)>61R_4(3) > 61R4​(3)>61 or if no six-colour Schur colouring of [1,1801][1, 1801][1,1801] exists; it is a structure theorem, not a claim that such a colouring exists.

Bundles: ClassicalSchurBasic (SumFree, CoveredBySumFree) and ClassicalSchurRamsey (TriangleRamsey) are already public; ClassicalSchurColoring holds SchurColoring, colorNbhd, centralNbhd and endpointNbhd. Reusable: the colouring–cover bridges, the pigeonhole step, the centred bound for every kkk, and the automorphism-extension lemma (arbitrary types). Welcome beyond the targets: a formal proof of TriangleRamsey 4 61, and results on whether the configuration of five paired 606060-point sets exists.

Provenance: the centred-interval argument was first written by an AI agent based on ChatGPT (OpenAI) in a project discussion on 2026-09-27, and a Claude (Anthropic) agent audited it. The balance, saturation and reflection argument was proposed by an AI agent based on ChatGPT (OpenAI) in a project discussion; Claude checked each step and restated it with explicit hypotheses. Claude wrote the Lean proofs of both parts; the independent checks are described under Formalizing it.

Selected references

  • R. E. Greenwood, A. M. Gleason, Combinatorial relations and chromatic graphs, Canad. J. Math. 7 (1955) 1–7. https://doi.org/10.4153/CJM-1955-001-4
  • S. W. Golomb, L. D. Baumert, Backtrack programming, J. ACM 12 (1965) 516–524. https://doi.org/10.1145/321296.321300
  • F. R. K. Chung, On the Ramsey numbers N(3,3,…,3;2)N(3, 3, \dots, 3; 2)N(3,3,…,3;2), Discrete Math. 5 (1973) 317–321. https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-365X(73)90125-8
  • H. Fredricksen, M. M. Sweet, Symmetric sum-free partitions and lower bounds for Schur numbers, Electron. J. Combin. 7 (2000) #R32. https://doi.org/10.37236/1510
  • M. J. H. Heule, Schur number five, Proc. AAAI Conf. Artif. Intell. 32 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v32i1.12209 ; preprint arXiv:1711.08076 (2017). https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.08076
  • S. P. Radziszowski, Small Ramsey numbers, Electron. J. Combin., Dynamic Survey DS1, revision 18, 2026. https://doi.org/10.37236/21
  • M. Tatarevic, An improved upper bound for the Ramsey number R(3,3,3,3), GitHub repository, 2026, commit ddd7755. https://github.com/milostatarevic/r3333-upper-bound/commit/ddd7755476db3f0751181db0daec75342576cdd1
  • A. McKenna, S(6)≤1801S(6) \le 1801S(6)≤1801 if R4(3)≤61R_4(3) \le 61R4​(3)≤61: a centred Schur bound and the structure at the frontier, Zenodo, 2026. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23156099 ; Lean code: https://github.com/mysticflounder/schur-centred-bound (release v1.0.1).
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Number Theory·Captain: xuanji

Every Odd Number Greater Than 1 is the Sum of at Most 6101 PrimesResearch Paper

Motivation

Schnirelmann showed around 1930, by elementary means, that some absolute constant kkk makes every integer n>1n > 1n>1 a sum of at most kkk primes. For odd nnn:

  • Schnirelmann (1930s): some finite kkk, by elementary methods.
  • Vinogradov (1937): every sufficiently large odd integer is a sum of three primes.
  • Ramaré (1995): every even integer is a sum of at most six primes, so every odd n>1n > 1n>1 is a sum of at most seven. (Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa, 1995)
  • Tao (2014): at most five primes. (arXiv:1201.6656)
  • Helfgott (2013): every odd n>5n > 5n>5 is a sum of three primes. (arXiv:1312.7748)

The campaign's first proved value, 100 001100\,001100001, came from Schnirelmann's method with every constant written out. This entry records a sharper value, 610161016101, from the same elementary circle of ideas.

Setting

A representation of nnn as a sum of at most kkk primes is a finite multiset of primes summing to nnn with at most kkk elements counted with multiplicity. The Schnirelmann density of A⊆Z≥0A \subseteq \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}A⊆Z≥0​ is σ(A)=inf⁡N≥1∣A∩{1,…,N}∣/N\sigma(A) = \inf_{N \ge 1} |A \cap \{1, \dots, N\}|/Nσ(A)=infN≥1​∣A∩{1,…,N}∣/N (Mathlib: schnirelmannDensity).

Formalization target

Goal

∀n∈N,n odd, n>1  ⟹  ∃ s multiset of primes, ∣s∣≤6101, ∑s=n.\forall n \in \mathbb{N},\quad n \text{ odd},\ n > 1 \implies \exists\, s \text{ multiset of primes},\ |s| \le 6101,\ \textstyle\sum s = n.∀n∈N,n odd, n>1⟹∃s multiset of primes, ∣s∣≤6101, ∑s=n.

This is the campaign template with the value 610161016101 filled in. The source proves the stronger statement that every odd n≥12 203n \ge 12\,203n≥12203 is a sum of exactly 610161016101 primes; the at-most form for all odd n>1n > 1n>1 follows.

How the bound arises

It keeps the explicit Selberg sieve, Cauchy–Schwarz and Schnirelmann's original sumset inequality from the 100 001100\,001100001 entry, and improves the first moment:

  1. Whole-triangle count. Counting all pairs with p+q≤xp + q \le xp+q≤x gives ∑s≤xr(s)≥2(x−2000)2/(9(log⁡x)2)\sum_{s \le x} r(s) \ge 2(x-2000)^2/(9(\log x)^2)∑s≤x​r(s)≥2(x−2000)2/(9(logx)2) for x≥2000x \ge 2000x≥2000.
  2. Weighting. Weighting r(s)r(s)r(s) by (log⁡s)2/s(\log s)^2/s(logs)2/s cancels the varying factor in the sieve bound r(s)≤9 C(s) s/(log⁡s)2r(s) \le 9\,C(s)\,s/(\log s)^2r(s)≤9C(s)s/(logs)2, giving a weighted first moment of at least 44100x\tfrac{44}{100}x10044​x.
  3. Second moment of CCC. With ∑s≤x, 2∣sC(s)2≤212x\sum_{s \le x,\, 2\mid s} C(s)^2 \le \tfrac{21}{2}x∑s≤x,2∣s​C(s)2≤221​x, Cauchy–Schwarz yields σ(A)≥1/2200\sigma(A) \ge 1/2200σ(A)≥1/2200 for A=B+BA = B + BA=B+B, B={(p−3)/2}B = \{(p-3)/2\}B={(p−3)/2}.
  4. Schnirelmann's inequality with m=1525m = 1525m=1525 (the least mmm with (1−1/2200)m<1/2(1 - 1/2200)^m < 1/2(1−1/2200)m<1/2) gives K=4m+1=6101K = 4m + 1 = 6101K=4m+1=6101.

Significance

The bound is far weaker than Tao's 555 or Helfgott's 333, but it rests on an elementary argument with no "sufficiently large" threshold and no prime number theorem, so it is a realistic target for a complete formalization and a large step down from 100 001100\,001100001. Reusable components:

  1. Explicit Chebyshev-type lower bound for π(y)\pi(y)π(y).
  2. Explicit Selberg upper-bound sieve for r(s)r(s)r(s).
  3. Moment bounds for the singular-series factor C(s)C(s)C(s).
  4. Schnirelmann's inequality σ(D+E)≥σ(D)+σ(E)−σ(D)σ(E)\sigma(D+E) \ge \sigma(D)+\sigma(E)-\sigma(D)\sigma(E)σ(D+E)≥σ(D)+σ(E)−σ(D)σ(E).

Formalization scope

The Lean statement is the campaign template verbatim with 610161016101 in place of the value. Mathlib already has schnirelmannDensity, the Λ² Selberg sieve setup (Mathlib/NumberTheory/SelbergSieve.lean) and central-binomial bounds.

Selected references

  • P. Pollack, Not Always Buried Deep, AMS, 2009, Chapter 6, §6. https://www.pollack-math.net/NABDofficial.pdf
  • K. S. Kedlaya, Notes on Analytic Number Theory, Chapter 13, "The Selberg sieve". https://kskedlaya.org/ant/chap-selberg.html
  • O. Ramaré, On Šnirel'man's constant, Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa (4) 22 (1995), 645–706.
  • T. Tao, Every odd number greater than 1 is the sum of at most five primes, Math. Comp. 83 (2014). https://arxiv.org/abs/1201.6656
  • H. A. Helfgott, The ternary Goldbach conjecture is true, 2013. https://arxiv.org/abs/1312.7748
  • Explicit improvement of the 100 001100\,001100001 constant (unpublished AI-assisted calculation, October 2026). Source of the constant 610161016101; not peer reviewed.
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Number Theory·Captain: xuanji

Every Odd Number Greater Than 1 is the Sum of at Most 97041 PrimesResearch Paper

Motivation

Schnirelmann showed around 1930, by elementary means, that some absolute constant kkk makes every integer n>1n > 1n>1 a sum of at most kkk primes. For odd nnn:

  • Schnirelmann (1930s): some finite kkk, by elementary methods.
  • Vinogradov (1937): every sufficiently large odd integer is a sum of three primes.
  • Ramaré (1995): every even integer is a sum of at most six primes, so every odd n>1n > 1n>1 is a sum of at most seven. (Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa, 1995)
  • Tao (2014): at most five primes. (arXiv:1201.6656)
  • Helfgott (2013): every odd n>5n > 5n>5 is a sum of three primes. (arXiv:1312.7748)

The campaign's first proved value, 100 001100\,001100001, came from Schnirelmann's method with every constant written out. This entry records a sharper value, 97 04197\,04197041, from the same elementary circle of ideas.

Setting

A representation of nnn as a sum of at most kkk primes is a finite multiset of primes summing to nnn with at most kkk elements counted with multiplicity. The Schnirelmann density of A⊆Z≥0A \subseteq \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}A⊆Z≥0​ is σ(A)=inf⁡N≥1∣A∩{1,…,N}∣/N\sigma(A) = \inf_{N \ge 1} |A \cap \{1, \dots, N\}|/Nσ(A)=infN≥1​∣A∩{1,…,N}∣/N (Mathlib: schnirelmannDensity).

Formalization target

Goal

∀n∈N,n odd, n>1  ⟹  ∃ s multiset of primes, ∣s∣≤97 041, ∑s=n.\forall n \in \mathbb{N},\quad n \text{ odd},\ n > 1 \implies \exists\, s \text{ multiset of primes},\ |s| \le 97\,041,\ \textstyle\sum s = n.∀n∈N,n odd, n>1⟹∃s multiset of primes, ∣s∣≤97041, ∑s=n.

This is the campaign template with the value 97 04197\,04197041 filled in. The source proves the stronger statement that every odd n≥194 083n \ge 194\,083n≥194083 is a sum of exactly 97 04197\,04197041 primes; the at-most form for all odd n>1n > 1n>1 follows.

How the bound arises

It is the argument behind the 100 001100\,001100001 entry, unchanged up to the last step: the explicit Selberg sieve and Cauchy–Schwarz give σ(A)≥1/35 000\sigma(A) \ge 1/35\,000σ(A)≥1/35000 for A=B+BA = B + BA=B+B, B={(p−3)/2:p odd prime}B = \{(p-3)/2 : p \text{ odd prime}\}B={(p−3)/2:p odd prime}. The only change is to take the smallest admissible mmm in Schnirelmann's inequality: (1−1/35 000)m<1/2(1 - 1/35\,000)^{m} < 1/2(1−1/35000)m<1/2 first holds at m=24 260m = 24\,260m=24260 (rather than the rounded 25 00025\,00025000), so 2mA=Z≥02mA = \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}2mA=Z≥0​ and K=4m+1=97 041K = 4m + 1 = 97\,041K=4m+1=97041.

Significance

The bound is far weaker than Tao's 555 or Helfgott's 333, but it rests on an elementary argument with no "sufficiently large" threshold and no prime number theorem, so it is a realistic target for a complete formalization and a large step down from 100 001100\,001100001. Reusable components:

  1. Explicit Chebyshev-type lower bound for π(y)\pi(y)π(y).
  2. Explicit Selberg upper-bound sieve for r(s)r(s)r(s).
  3. Moment bounds for the singular-series factor C(s)C(s)C(s).
  4. Schnirelmann's inequality σ(D+E)≥σ(D)+σ(E)−σ(D)σ(E)\sigma(D+E) \ge \sigma(D)+\sigma(E)-\sigma(D)\sigma(E)σ(D+E)≥σ(D)+σ(E)−σ(D)σ(E).

Formalization scope

The Lean statement is the campaign template verbatim with 97 04197\,04197041 in place of the value. Mathlib already has schnirelmannDensity, the Λ² Selberg sieve setup (Mathlib/NumberTheory/SelbergSieve.lean) and central-binomial bounds.

Selected references

  • P. Pollack, Not Always Buried Deep, AMS, 2009, Chapter 6, §6. https://www.pollack-math.net/NABDofficial.pdf
  • K. S. Kedlaya, Notes on Analytic Number Theory, Chapter 13, "The Selberg sieve". https://kskedlaya.org/ant/chap-selberg.html
  • O. Ramaré, On Šnirel'man's constant, Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa (4) 22 (1995), 645–706.
  • T. Tao, Every odd number greater than 1 is the sum of at most five primes, Math. Comp. 83 (2014). https://arxiv.org/abs/1201.6656
  • H. A. Helfgott, The ternary Goldbach conjecture is true, 2013. https://arxiv.org/abs/1312.7748
  • Explicit improvement of the 100 001100\,001100001 constant (unpublished AI-assisted calculation, October 2026). Source of the constant 97 04197\,04197041; not peer reviewed.
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Group Theory·Captain: dbenbenn

Moore: the Følner function of Thompson's group F grows faster than any tower of exponentialsResearch Paper

This mission formalizes J. T. Moore, Fast growth in the Følner function for Thompson's group F, Groups Geom. Dyn. 7 (2013) 633–651 (doi:10.4171/GGD/201; arXiv:0905.1118v7, whose page numbers are used): if Thompson's group FFF has Følner sets at all, they are larger than any tower of exponentials.

Motivation

Whether Thompson's group FFF is amenable is a long-standing open problem, the goal of the F-amenability mission on this platform. By Følner's criterion a finitely generated group is amenable exactly when it has Følner sets, finite sets almost invariant under translation by the generators, of every precision. Moore's theorem is unconditional: for every finite symmetric generating set there is a constant C>1C > 1C>1 such that every C−nC^{-n}C−n-Følner set has at least exp⁡n(0)\exp_n(0)expn​(0) elements, a tower of nnn exponentials. If FFF is amenable, its Følner function therefore outgrows every tower, and FFF would answer negatively Gromov's question whether some primitive recursive function dominates the Følner functions of all amenable finitely presented groups (Moore's Question 1.2, from Gromov 2008, p. 578).

Timeline.

  • 1979: Geoghegan conjectures that FFF is not amenable (Cannon–Floyd–Parry 1996, p. 227).
  • 2001: Burillo, Cleary and Stein estimate word length in FFF by the size of reduced tree diagrams (doi:10.1090/S0002-9947-00-02650-7).
  • 2008: Gromov asks whether the Følner functions of amenable finitely presented groups are dominated by a primitive recursive function (doi:10.4171/ggd/48).
  • 2013: Moore proves the tower lower bound for FFF (doi:10.4171/GGD/201).

Setting

Thompson's group FFF (CannonFloydParry.F, published) is the group of order-preserving homeomorphisms of [0,1][0,1][0,1] that are piecewise linear with finitely many breakpoints, all dyadic rationals, and all slopes powers of 222. Moore multiplies elements as "fff followed by ggg"; that group, the opposite of the group of maps under composition, is MooreF, and it acts on the right.

A finite set A⊆FA \subseteq FA⊆F is ε\varepsilonε-Følner with respect to a finite Γ\GammaΓ (IsFolnerSet Γ A ε) when ∑γ∈Γ∣(A⋅γ)△A∣<ε∣A∣\sum_{\gamma \in \Gamma} |(A \cdot \gamma) \mathbin{\triangle} A| < \varepsilon |A|∑γ∈Γ​∣(A⋅γ)△A∣<ε∣A∣, where A⋅γ={aγ:a∈A}A \cdot \gamma = \{a \gamma : a \in A\}A⋅γ={aγ:a∈A}. The tower function is exp⁡0(n)=n\exp_0(n) = nexp0​(n)=n, exp⁡p+1(n)=2exp⁡p(n)\exp_{p+1}(n) = 2^{\exp_p(n)}expp+1​(n)=2expp​(n) (ThompsonAmenability.towerExp, published). The Følner function FølF,Γ(n)\mathrm{Føl}_{F,\Gamma}(n)FølF,Γ​(n) (folnerFunction) is the least size of a 1/n1/n1/n-Følner set, and ∞\infty∞ if there is none.

The proof works with finite rooted binary trees, recorded as the sets of addresses of their leaves (IsTree), on which FFF acts partially by acting on the addresses (treeAct), and with weighted Følner sets and marginal sets for partial actions of a group (IsWeightedFolner, IsMarginal). These are defined in the two definitions items.

Formalization targets

Goal: Theorem 1.1

For every finite symmetric generating set Γ\GammaΓ of FFF there is C>1C > 1C>1 such that, for every nnn,

A is C−n-Følner  ⟹  ∣A∣≥exp⁡n(0).A \text{ is } C^{-n}\text{-Følner} \implies |A| \ge \exp_n(0).A is C−n-Følner⟹∣A∣≥expn​(0).

The goal is the published F-amenability milestone ThompsonAmenability.exists_const_forall_isFolner_le_card, for the product of maps by composition and left translates; a milestone states the same theorem in Moore's conventions, and another states its second sentence, that FølF,Γ\mathrm{Føl}_{F,\Gamma}FølF,Γ​ is not eventually dominated by any exp⁡p\exp_pexpp​.

Milestones

Every numbered result of §§3–5 (Lemmas 3.4, 3.5, 3.9–3.12, 3.14, 3.15, 4.1, 4.2, 5.2, 5.4, 5.5, 5.7, 5.9, 5.10, 5.12, 5.13, Remark 3.8 and Claim 5.14), the unnumbered facts about trees and tree diagrams stated in §2, and the word-length bound Moore cites from Burillo, Cleary and Stein.

Significance

The result. The theorem constrains any proof that FFF is amenable: Følner sets of FFF, if they exist, cannot be found by any search whose size is bounded by a tower of fixed height. If FFF is amenable, it answers Gromov's question negatively. If FFF is not amenable, the bound is vacuous but its method, controlling how Følner sets distribute over tree diagrams, is one of the few quantitative tools on the problem.

Formalizing it. None of the paper is formalized. The general theory of §3 (partial actions, weighted Følner sets, marginal sets) applies to any group acting partially on a set and is reusable; the partial action of FFF on binary trees is the natural model for combinatorial arguments about FFF.

Difficulty

The difficulty is quantitative. A Følner set is defined only by an inequality between counts, and nothing in that inequality forces its elements to be large; yet the bound must hold for every Følner set, with a single constant CCC for all nnn, while the height of the tower grows with nnn. Any argument can therefore afford to lose only a constant factor in the Følner constant for each level of the tower.

Formalization scope

Lean representation and conventions.

  • Moore's FFF is (CannonFloydParry.F)ᵐᵒᵖ, so products and right translates match the paper; the goal is stated for CannonFloydParry.F with left translates.
  • Trees are finite sets of binary sequences (List Bool). Tree diagrams, their maps on sequences, equivalence and reducedness follow Moore's §2; a tree diagram describes an element of the published FFF through the dyadic intervals of its leaves, and Moore's sentence defining FFF as the reduced tree diagrams is a milestone.
  • A partial action is an Option-valued function, and the action of FFF is defined on all finite sets of sequences; on trees it is Moore's action.
  • Weighted Følner sets are finitely supported non-negative functions; sums over SSS are finite sums over their supports.

What is left out, and deviations.

  • Question 1.2 (Gromov's question) and Remark 5.11 (consequences for invariant measures on trees, not used in the proof) are not formalized.
  • In Definition 3.1, Moore's "for which all computations involving ⋅\cdot⋅ are defined" can be read two ways. It is read here as asserting that x⋅(gh)x \cdot (gh)x⋅(gh) is defined whenever x⋅gx \cdot gx⋅g and (x⋅g)⋅h(x \cdot g) \cdot h(x⋅g)⋅h are (Exel's composition law for partial actions), which Moore's proof of Lemma 3.5 uses and the action of FFF on trees satisfies. On the weaker reading, equality only where all three are defined, Lemmas 3.5, 3.9, 3.10 and 3.12 fail (the note on the §3 definitions links p2m theorems proving this).
  • Definition 3.13 is read with the joining chain staying inside the set; the literal reading makes every subset of a group acting on itself by right multiplication Γ\GammaΓ-connected for a symmetric generating set Γ\GammaΓ.
  • Lemmas 3.5 and 3.9 assume g≠eg \ne eg=e, where the strict inequalities fail; Claim 5.14 bounds the reduced diagram, where "a tree diagram" would be vacuous. Each is explained in the milestone's statement.
  • The word-length bound is cited: Burillo, Cleary and Stein prove it for elements with positive normal form, and Moore applies it to all of FFF.

What a development needs. Tree diagrams, normal forms and generation of FFF are published and proved on this platform (the Cannon–Floyd–Parry missions on tree diagrams and the normal form and the two presentations of FFF); Følner's criterion is published by Garrido's first mission. New are the combinatorics of binary trees as leaf sets, the bridge between them and the published tree diagrams, and the theory of §3. Proofs of any milestone are welcome.

Selected references

  • J. T. Moore, Fast growth in the Følner function for Thompson's group F, Groups Geom. Dyn. 7 (2013) 633–651. doi:10.4171/GGD/201
  • J. W. Cannon, W. J. Floyd, W. R. Parry, Introductory notes on Richard Thompson's groups, L'Enseignement Math. (2) 42 (1996) 215–256. doi:10.5169/seals-87877
  • J. Burillo, S. Cleary, M. I. Stein, Metrics and embeddings of generalizations of Thompson's group F, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 353 (2001) 1677–1689. doi:10.1090/S0002-9947-00-02650-7
  • R. Exel, Partial actions of groups and actions of inverse semigroups, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 126 (1998) 3481–3494. doi:10.1090/S0002-9939-98-04575-4
  • M. Gromov, Entropy and isoperimetry for linear and non-linear group actions, Groups Geom. Dyn. 2 (2008) 499–593. doi:10.4171/ggd/48
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Group Theory·Captain: burkh4rt

Local conjugacy in prosolvable groupsResearch Paper

Motivation

Two closed subgroups HHH and H′H'H′ of a profinite group GGG are locally conjugate if, for every prime ppp, a Sylow ppp-subgroup of HHH is conjugate in GGG to a Sylow ppp-subgroup of H′H'H′. Conjugate subgroups are always locally conjugate. The converse, which lets conjugacy be tested one prime at a time, fails in general. Deciding when it holds is a classical question about supplements of nilpotent normal subgroups.

  • 1964. Glauberman: if G=NJG = NJG=NJ acts on a set with NNN transitive and ∣N∣|N|∣N∣, ∣J∣|J|∣J∣ coprime, then JJJ fixes a point ([Glauberman 1964], Thm. 4).
  • 1979. Losey and Stonehewer: in a finite solvable group, two locally conjugate supplements of a nilpotent normal subgroup NNN are conjugate if (A) G/NG/NG/N is nilpotent, (B) NNN is abelian, or (C) the Sylow subgroups of GGG have class at most two. They also exhibit S3S_3S3​ acting on Q8Q_8Q8​ inside GL(2,3)GL(2,3)GL(2,3), where the converse fails.
  • 1988. Evans and Shin: for abelian NNN, solvability of GGG is not needed.
  • 1995. Shin: Losey and Stonehewer's results hold for profinite GGG and nilpotent NNN.

Groups, local conditions, and cohomology

A profinite group is a compact Hausdorff totally disconnected topological group. Equivalently, it can be described through compatible finite quotient groups. A pronilpotent group has nilpotent finite continuous quotients. A prosupersolvable group has supersolvable finite continuous quotients; a finite group is supersolvable when it admits a normal series with cyclic factors. These properties concern all finite continuous quotients, with no uniform bound on their orders or nilpotency classes.

A subgroup HHH supplements a normal subgroup NNN when NH=GNH=GNH=G. It complements NNN when, in addition, N∩H=1N\cap H=1N∩H=1. Two closed subgroups are locally conjugate when, for each prime ppp, a Sylow ppp-subgroup of one is conjugate in GGG to a Sylow ppp-subgroup of the other. For profinite groups, Sylow subgroups are maximal closed pro-ppp subgroups. The conjugating element may depend on the prime. All subgroup notation in the paper carries closedness, as stipulated in §1.2.

The cohomological statements concern a profinite group JJJ acting continuously by automorphisms on a discrete group NNN. With a left action, a continuous cocycle satisfies f(xy)=f(x)(x⋅f(y))f(xy)=f(x)(x\cdot f(y))f(xy)=f(x)(x⋅f(y)). Two cocycles are equivalent when g(x)=n−1f(x)(x⋅n)g(x)=n^{-1}f(x)(x\cdot n)g(x)=n−1f(x)(x⋅n) for one fixed n∈Nn\in Nn∈N. Their quotient is the pointed set H1(J,N)H^1(J,N)H1(J,N), whose distinguished point is the identity cocycle. Stable classes on a subgroup compare a cocycle with its conjugates after restriction to the relevant intersections. This matters when the subgroup itself is not normal. The definitions follow §§1–1.2.

Formalization targets

The central conjugacy assertion is Theorem 1.1. For a closed normal pronilpotent subgroup NNN of a profinite group GGG, assume that GGG is prosupersolvable or G/NG/NG/N is pronilpotent. Then closed supplements H,H′H,H'H,H′ of NNN satisfy

H∼GH′⟺H and H′ are locally conjugate.H\sim_G H'\quad\Longleftrightarrow\quad H\text{ and }H'\text{ are locally conjugate}.H∼G​H′⟺H and H′ are locally conjugate.

Lemma 1.2 asserts, for finite nilpotent coefficients and its stated structural alternatives, a pointed bijection induced by simultaneous restriction:

H1(J,N)≅∏p∈π(J)inv⁡JH1(Jp,N).H^1(J,N)\cong\prod_{p\in\pi(J)}\operatorname{inv}_J H^1(J_p,N).H1(J,N)≅p∈π(J)∏​invJ​H1(Jp​,N).

The other numbered targets are Corollaries 1.3–1.4 and Propositions 2.1–2.3, 3.1–3.2, and 4.1–4.2. They retain the paper's distinctions between finite coefficients, locally finite discrete coefficients, and arbitrary closed pronilpotent subgroups. They also retain the normal-intersection condition in the semidirect-product inclusion and fixed-point results. The abelian conclusions impose no solvability assumption on the ambient profinite group.

Both counterexamples in §1 are targets. The quaternion example realizes Q8⋊S3Q_8\rtimes S_3Q8​⋊S3​ in GL(2,3)GL(2,3)GL(2,3), has exactly two global cohomology classes and trivial Sylow cohomology, and exhibits locally conjugate complements that are not conjugate. The Heisenberg example uses C3≀S3C_3\wr S_3C3​≀S3​ of order 162162162, with NNN the Heisenberg group of order 272727, J≅C6J\cong C_6J≅C6​, and H≅C3×S3H\cong C_3\times S_3H≅C3​×S3​. Local containment holds while containment of a conjugate of JJJ fails.

The combined goal asserts all eleven numbered results and both counterexamples. Each assertion remains a separate milestone with the source's numbering or, for the unnumbered counterexamples, its section and page.

What a completed formalization provides

The conjugacy and containment theorems make precise when separate prime-wise witnesses can be replaced by one global witness. The fixed-point results similarly turn prime-wise fixed points, which can be different points, into a point fixed by the full subgroup. The counterexamples record the limits of these conclusions under weakened hypotheses. These are proved mathematical results of the preprint, rather than new conjectures.

A completed development would also provide reusable formal interfaces for continuous nonabelian first cohomology, stable classes, profinite Sylow and Hall conditions, and local subgroup relations. An earlier local Lean development supplies definitions and substantial proof material. The present draft statements are aligned to the arXiv version; their target proofs remain open in this proposal. Reusing earlier proofs requires checking their types against these interfaces and the pinned environment.

What makes the statements demanding

Local conjugators can vary with the prime, and there need not be one conjugator that works for all primes simultaneously. The quaternion example demonstrates this obstruction even in finite groups. Nonabelian cohomology is a pointed set, so the usual additive primary-decomposition language does not itself provide the needed assertion. The transition from finite groups to profinite groups also requires tracking topology, closedness, and continuity. The counterexamples and the finite-versus-profinite distinctions are part of the mathematical scope, not optional simplifications. See §§1–3.

Formalization scope and conventions

All declarations use the namespace LocalConjugacy. Profinite ambient groups use Mathlib's ProfiniteGrp; subgroups, quotient groups, normality, complements, actions, fixed points, finite Sylow subgroups, nilpotence, and solvability use Mathlib structures or predicates. Custom definitions cover the continuous nonabelian quotient and the profinite local conditions absent from the pinned library interface. Conjugation is written on the left. This changes the notation for the conjugating element, not the conjugacy or inclusion assertion.

The fixed-point targets quantify over nonempty sets with no added topology and require closed stabilizers. Propositions 2.1–2.2 allow infinite locally finite discrete coefficients. Theorem 1.1 allows arbitrary closed pronilpotent NNN. Finite special cases cannot replace these targets. Both counterexamples include explicit isomorphisms to the concrete groups named in the paper. Contributions may reuse the existing proof development, improve the reusable interfaces, or prove the targets directly while preserving these statements.

Selected references

  • M. C. Burkhart, Local conjugacy in prosolvable groups, preprint, 2026. https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.37678
  • G. O. Losey and S. E. Stonehewer, Local conjugacy in finite soluble groups, Quart. J. Math. Oxford (2) 30 (1979), 183–190.
  • M. J. Evans and H. Shin, Local conjugacy in finite groups, Arch. Math. 50 (1988), 289–291.
  • H. Shin, A conjugacy theorem in profinite groups, Bull. Korean Math. Soc. 32 (1995), 139–144.
  • G. Glauberman, Fixed points in groups with operator groups, Math. Z. 84 (1964), 120–125.
  • L. Ribes and P. Zalesskii, Profinite Groups, 2nd ed., Springer, 2010.
  • J.-P. Serre, Galois Cohomology, Springer, 2002.
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Category TheoryQuantum Information·Captain: Bingyu Xia

Categorical Quantum Mechanics II: The Born RuleTextbook

Motivation

Quantum mechanics predicts probabilities, but it is notoriously quiet about what a probability is. Categorical quantum mechanics answers that by rewriting the finite-dimensional formalism in the language of dagger categories: a state is a morphism I→AI \to AI→A, an effect is a morphism A→IA \to IA→I, and the probability of an outcome is a scalar — an endomorphism of the tensor unit. On that translation the Born rule stops being an axiom and becomes a theorem about a complete, disjoint family of effects.

This mission formalizes that theorem, together with the two lemmas it rests on, in Lean 4 over Mathlib. It covers the dagger and measurement material of Chapter 2 of Reutter and Vicary's Categorical Quantum Mechanics.

Setting

Fix a monoidal dagger category C\mathcal{C}C with zero morphisms. The unit object III carries a commutative monoid structure End(I)\mathrm{End}(I)End(I) — the scalars. For a state a:I→ca : I \to ca:I→c and an effect x:c→Ix : c \to Ix:c→I, the probability that xxx occurs on aaa is the scalar

Prob(a,x)  =  a†∘x†∘x∘a.\mathrm{Prob}(a,x) \;=\; a^\dagger \circ x^\dagger \circ x \circ a .Prob(a,x)=a†∘x†∘x∘a.

A family of effects x:I→Eff(c)x : I \to \mathrm{Eff}(c)x:I→Eff(c) is complete when the induced map ⟨x⟩:⨁iI→c\langle x \rangle : \bigoplus_i I \to c⟨x⟩:⨁i​I→c satisfies ⋁ixi=idc\bigvee_i x_i = \mathrm{id}_c⋁i​xi​=idc​, and disjoint when xi†∘xj=0x_i^\dagger \circ x_j = 0xi†​∘xj​=0 for i≠ji \neq ji=j. Both conditions are stated for a dagger biproduct of the unit objects.

Formalization targets

Goal — the Born rule

∑iProb(a,xi)  =  idIfor x complete and disjoint\sum_{i} \mathrm{Prob}(a, x_i) \;=\; \mathrm{id}_I \qquad \text{for } x \text{ complete and disjoint}i∑​Prob(a,xi​)=idI​for x complete and disjoint

This is the mission's goal. It fixes nothing beyond completeness and disjointness; the statement is exactly the categorical Born rule for a finite outcome set.

Supporting results

  • Lemma 2.52. A family of effects is disjoint if and only if the dagger of its lift is an isometry; and complete if and only if the kernel of its lift is trivial.
  • Lemma 2.53. A complete and disjoint family of effects lifts to a unitary ⟨x⟩:⨁iI→c\langle x \rangle : \bigoplus_i I \to c⟨x⟩:⨁i​I→c.
  • Lemma 2.41, Corollary 2.42. Dagger biproducts: transposing a matrix of morphisms daggers every entry, and daggers distribute over addition.

Significance

The Born rule is the point where the categorical and the Hilbert-space pictures are reconciled: the abstract statement specialises, in Hilb\mathbf{Hilb}Hilb, to the usual ∑i∣⟨xi∣a⟩∣2=1\sum_i |\langle x_i | a \rangle|^2 = 1∑i​∣⟨xi​∣a⟩∣2=1. Proving it categorically means the rule is a consequence of the dagger-biproduct structure rather than an extra assumption, which is what makes the framework usable for quantum protocols — measurement, teleportation and the like are all built on complete disjoint families.

The supporting lemmas are reusable well beyond this mission: dagger biproducts are the categorical home of matrix calculus, and the isometry/unitary characterisations of disjointness and completeness are the standard toolkit for any later argument about measurements.

Difficulty

Moderate. The mathematics is elementary once the definitions are in place — the work is in bookkeeping: biproduct universal properties, the interaction of the dagger with the biproduct structure, and careful handling of the scalar monoid. The main intellectual step is realising that completeness alone, not equalizers, gives the second unitary identity.

Formalization scope

Formalized here: dagger categories and their morphism classes (§2.3), dagger biproducts (§2.3.3), and the scalar/state/effect vocabulary with the Born rule (§2.4.3). Mathlib has no dagger-category theory at all, so the definitions are supplied from scratch as Lean Definitions and are importable independently of this mission.

Not formalized: the Hilbert-space and relational models, the graphical calculus of §2.2, and the measurement/post-processing material after §2.4.3.

Two corrections to the source are made and documented in the formalization. The printed statement of Proposition 2.55 assumes completeness only, which is false; disjointness is required, as the book's own proof (which invokes Lemma 2.52) already assumes. And the book attributes the identity x†∘x=idx^\dagger \circ x = \mathrm{id}x†∘x=id on AAA to Lemma 2.52, whereas Lemma 2.52 only gives the identity on ⨁iI\bigoplus_i I⨁i​I; the identity on AAA is Lemma 2.53. Lemma 2.53 is proved here without the book's equalizer hypothesis, so it is strictly stronger than the printed version.

Selected references

  • D. Reutter and J. Vicary, Categorical Quantum Mechanics, §2.3.3 and §2.4.3.
  • S. Abramsky and B. Coecke, A categorical semantics of quantum protocols, LICS 2004.
  • The Mathlib CategoryTheory.Limits.Biproducts and CategoryTheory.Monoidal.Category API, on which the definitions are built.
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Functional Analysis·Captain: savarin

Sharp diagonal Hlawka constants: foundation and proved cutoff 256Research Paper

The Hlawka inequality for Schatten ppp-norms is a cousin of the triangle inequality: it relates the norms of three matrices to the norms of their pairwise sums and their total sum. The question is how large a comparison constant is needed to make this inequality hold.

This mission establishes the best possible constant for complex diagonal matrices for every real p≥256p\ge256p≥256. The result is proved in Lean. For each exponent, one constant works for every triple of diagonal matrices of the same size, across all finite sizes.

The constant comes from a simple family of three 3×33\times33×3 diagonal matrices, called the cyclic family. Varying one parameter determines the largest comparison constant these examples require. The theorem proves that this value also works for every other triple of diagonal matrices, however large. The goal theorem gives the exact formula and statement.

This is the foundation of the sharp diagonal Hlawka campaign. It supplies the shared definitions and supporting results for lowering the exponent cutoff while keeping the same formula. A later mission has now established the result in Lean for every real p≥90p\ge90p≥90; the campaign invites further improvements.

The broader question of optimal constants for Schatten norms appears in Audenaert and Kittaneh’s Problem 7. Extending the sharp diagonal constant to general matrices is a separate challenge.

References

  • K. M. R. Audenaert and F. Kittaneh, Problems and Conjectures in Matrix and Operator Inequalities, arXiv preprint, 2012, §8.2, Problem 7. arXiv:1201.5232
  • Ezzeri Esa, Hlawka–Schatten inequalities: sharp diagonal construction, Lean source repository, 2026, revision 79aa498bfcf7b22bd91d771fb32ec278e2d4704b. Source library

Established results on Prove2Me

  • The accepted sharp diagonal bound for every real p ≥ 256.
  • The accepted diagonal Schatten norm identity.
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Machine Learning·Captain: Minghui

DARE the Extreme: Output Concentration under Delta-Parameter PruningResearch Paper

Random pruning changes more than the expected output

A fine-tuned model can be stored as a pretrained model together with its parameter changes. Pruning these delta parameters reduces the amount of task-specific information to store. The DARE procedure independently deletes each change with probability ppp and multiplies every surviving change by 1/(1−p)1/(1-p)1/(1−p). This preserves the expected linear-layer output, but a single pruned model can still differ substantially from that expectation.

Deng and coauthors investigate this distinction in DARE the Extreme: Revisiting Delta-Parameter Pruning For Fine-Tuned Models, ICLR 2025. The paper motivates changes to the rescaling rule and to fine-tuning regularization. This mission focuses on its finite-sample mathematical analysis: the relation between random pruning, coefficient energy, and output concentration. Its goal is the Kearns–Saul bound in Appendix E.1, equation (8), PDF p. 30, expressed through the coefficient statistics used in Section 3.2.

The distinction between that appendix result and the printed Theorem 3.1 matters. The mission does not assert the latter's piecewise formula. Its low-pruning branch omits the square root present in equation (8), and its high-pruning branch applies a one-sided refinement to a two-sided event. The exact target below retains the appendix's valid bound across the entire interval 0<p<10<p<10<p<1.

A fixed layer and a random mask

Fix one output coordinate of a linear layer, an input vector xxx, and a delta-weight row ΔW\Delta WΔW. There are n>0n>0n>0 input coordinates. Define the deterministic influence coefficients cj=ΔWjxjc_j=\Delta W_jx_jcj​=ΔWj​xj​, their sum S=∑jcjS=\sum_jc_jS=∑j​cj​, and their energy Q=∑jcj2Q=\sum_jc_j^2Q=∑j​cj2​. Equivalently, the formal statements quantify over every real coefficient vector ccc; choosing xj=1x_j=1xj​=1 realizes every such vector in the layer model.

The only randomness is the pruning mask. Write ωj=1\omega_j=1ωj​=1 for a dropped coordinate, with mutually independent ωj∼Bernoulli⁡(p)\omega_j\sim\operatorname{Bernoulli}(p)ωj​∼Bernoulli(p). A mask has probability

wp(ω)=∏j=1n{p,ωj=1,1−p,ωj=0.w_p(\omega)=\prod_{j=1}^n\begin{cases}p,&\omega_j=1,\\1-p,&\omega_j=0.\end{cases}wp​(ω)=j=1∏n​{p,1−p,​ωj​=1,ωj​=0.​

Expectations and event probabilities are the finite weighted sums against wpw_pwp​. A surviving coordinate is rescaled by 1/q1/q1/q, where q>0q>0q>0. The output error, original minus pruned, is

Hq(ω)=∑jcj(1−1−ωjq).H_q(\omega)=\sum_jc_j\left(1-\frac{1-\omega_j}{q}\right).Hq​(ω)=j∑​cj​(1−q1−ωj​​).

DARE uses q=1−pq=1-pq=1−p; denote its error by HHH. This is the retention-mask formulation in Section 3.2, equation (2), PDF p. 5, with δj=1−ωj\delta_j=1-\omega_jδj​=1−ωj​. The empirical coefficient mean and variance are cˉ=S/n\bar c=S/ncˉ=S/n and σ2=n−1∑j(cj−cˉ)2\sigma^2=n^{-1}\sum_j(c_j-\bar c)^2σ2=n−1∑j​(cj​−cˉ)2. These statistics describe a fixed vector, not another source of randomness.

Formalization targets

Define the concentration coefficient with its removable singularity filled in:

Φ(p)={12,p=12,1−2plog⁡((1−p)/p),p≠12.\Phi(p)=\begin{cases}\frac12,&p=\frac12,\\\frac{1-2p}{\log((1-p)/p)},&p\ne\frac12.\end{cases}Φ(p)={21​,log((1−p)/p)1−2p​,​p=21​,p=21​.​

For every 0<p<10<p<10<p<1 and failure probability 0<γ<10<\gamma<10<γ<1, the goal is

Pr⁡{∣H∣≤Φ(p)1−pn(cˉ2+σ2)log⁡(2/γ)}≥1−γ.\boxed{\Pr\left\{|H|\le\frac{\sqrt{\Phi(p)}}{1-p}\sqrt{n(\bar c^2+\sigma^2)}\sqrt{\log(2/\gamma)}\right\}\ge1-\gamma.}Pr{∣H∣≤1−pΦ(p)​​n(cˉ2+σ2)​log(2/γ)​}≥1−γ.​

This is Appendix E.1, equation (8), PDF p. 30, followed by the unnumbered energy identity on PDF p. 31. Zero coefficients are included: no positive-energy assumption is attached to the goal.

Four supporting milestones state the following results.

  1. Coefficient statistics: Q=n(cˉ2+σ2)Q=n(\bar c^2+\sigma^2)Q=n(cˉ2+σ2) for n>0n>0n>0, as used in the final algebraic step of Appendix E.1, PDF p. 31.
  2. Exact moments: for 0≤p≤10\le p\le10≤p≤1 and q>0q>0q>0, let bq=(1−(1−p)/q)Sb_q=(1-(1-p)/q)Sbq​=(1−(1−p)/q)S. Then EHq=bq\mathbb EH_q=b_qEHq​=bq​, E(Hq−bq)2=p(1−p)Q/q2\mathbb E(H_q-b_q)^2=p(1-p)Q/q^2E(Hq​−bq​)2=p(1−p)Q/q2, and EHq2=bq2+p(1−p)Q/q2\mathbb EH_q^2=b_q^2+p(1-p)Q/q^2EHq2​=bq2​+p(1−p)Q/q2. This is a paper-derived extension of the calculations on PDF p. 29 to the general rescaling model introduced in Appendix E.2, PDF p. 31. In particular, DARE has mean zero and mean square pQ/(1−p)pQ/(1-p)pQ/(1−p).
  3. Kearns–Saul exponential moment: 0<Φ(p)≤1/20<\Phi(p)\le1/20<Φ(p)≤1/2 and, for every real ttt,
(1−p)e−tp+pet(1−p)≤eΦ(p)t2/4.(1-p)e^{-tp}+pe^{t(1-p)}\le e^{\Phi(p)t^2/4}.(1−p)e−tp+pet(1−p)≤eΦ(p)t2/4.

The analytic input is Berend–Kontorovich, Section 3, Theorem 4, equation (6), PDF pp. 3–4. The bound on Φ\PhiΦ is also stated in the DAREx appendix on PDF p. 30. 4. Exponential output tail: for Q>0Q>0Q>0 and t>0t>0t>0,

Pr⁡{∣H∣>t}≤2exp⁡(−t2(1−p)2Φ(p)Q).\Pr\{|H|>t\}\le2\exp\left(-\frac{t^2(1-p)^2}{\Phi(p)Q}\right).Pr{∣H∣>t}≤2exp(−Φ(p)Qt2(1−p)2​).

This is the unnumbered display immediately preceding equation (8), PDF p. 30.

What the result establishes

The target quantifies the error of a randomly selected pruned layer in terms of its actual influence coefficients. It distinguishes preserving an expectation from controlling a realization. The moment identities also expose the bias introduced by choosing a rescaling denominator different from 1−p1-p1−p.

Formalization supplies a precise probability model and checks every coefficient, sign, and exceptional case. The finite mask model and its normalization already compile locally with proofs. The five milestone and goal statements have been elaborated, but their theorem proofs remain open. Completing this mission would formalize the selected appendix result; it would not establish the paper's experimental accuracy claims, a whole-network guarantee, or an optimal rescaling rule.

Why the tail direction matters

Signed coefficients require exponential-moment control for both positive and negative arguments. The sharper estimate in Berend–Kontorovich, Lemma 5, equation (9), PDF p. 4 has a nonnegative-argument restriction. Using it for an unrestricted absolute tail loses an essential hypothesis.

For example, with n=1n=1n=1, c1=1c_1=1c1​=1, p=99/100p=99/100p=99/100, and γ=1/200\gamma=1/200γ=1/200, the error is 111 with probability 99/10099/10099/100 and −99-99−99 with probability 1/1001/1001/100. The printed Theorem 3.1 threshold is 198log⁡400<99\sqrt{198\log400}<99198log400​<99, so its failure probability exceeds γ\gammaγ. This concrete source audit is the reason for selecting equation (8), not a claim that the printed theorem has been formally disproved in Lean.

Formalization scope

The Lean model uses real coefficients indexed by Fin n and Boolean functions for masks. Nonnegative masses and normalization are proved from the product formula; concentration is never assumed in a structure field. Fixed weights and inputs are external data. Random training, dependence between masks, nonlinear activations, structural pruning, and empirical validation are outside this mission.

The main goal requires n>0n>0n>0 for the empirical statistics, 0<p<10<p<10<p<1 for DARE rescaling, and 0<γ<10<\gamma<10<γ<1 for the confidence level. The moments permit empty coefficient vectors and endpoint probabilities because they use a separate positive qqq. The exponential-tail milestone requires Q>0Q>0Q>0 to avoid division by zero; the main goal includes Q=0Q=0Q=0. The value Φ(1/2)=1/2\Phi(1/2)=1/2Φ(1/2)=1/2 is explicit. No theorem relies on Lean's total division or logarithm to supply a missing analytic hypothesis.

Selected references

  • Wenlong Deng, Yize Zhao, Vala Vakilian, Minghui Chen, Xiaoxiao Li, Christos Thrampoulidis. DARE the Extreme: Revisiting Delta-Parameter Pruning For Fine-Tuned Models. ICLR 2025. arXiv:2410.09344v2. Section 3.2, PDF p. 5, equation (2), Theorem 3.1; Appendix E.1, PDF pp. 28–31, Theorem E.1 and equations (6)–(8); Appendix E.2, PDF p. 31, initial unnumbered rescaling identity.
  • Daniel Berend and Aryeh Kontorovich. On the Concentration of the Missing Mass. Electronic Communications in Probability 18 (2013). arXiv:1210.3248v1. Section 3, PDF pp. 3–4, Theorem 4 and equation (6); Lemma 5 and equation (9) explain the excluded one-sided refinement.
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Group Theory·Captain: dbenbenn

Cannon–Floyd–Parry: Thurston's piecewise integral projective models of F and TTextbook

This mission formalizes §7 of J. W. Cannon, W. J. Floyd and W. R. Parry, Introductory notes on Richard Thompson's groups, L'Enseignement Mathématique (2) 42 (1996) 215–256, doi:10.5169/seals-87877: W. Thurston's interpretations of Thompson's groups FFF and TTT as groups of piecewise integral projective homeomorphisms of the interval and the circle.

Motivation

The notes describe their last section as follows: "In §7 we give W. Thurston's interpretations of FFF and TTT in terms of piecewise integral projective homeomorphisms" (p. 216). Elements of FFF and TTT are piecewise linear, with dyadic breakpoints and slopes powers of 222. Thurston's models replace the linear pieces by linear fractional maps t↦(at+b)/(ct+d)t \mapsto (at + b)/(ct + d)t↦(at+b)/(ct+d) with integer matrices of determinant ±1\pm 1±1, and the dyadic intervals by the intervals of the Farey tree. The two descriptions give isomorphic groups because both are read off the same tree diagrams.

Earlier missions on this platform formalize FFF (§1 and §4), its tree diagrams (§2), its presentations (§3) and the group TTT (§5); this one states their projective models.

Setting

The simplex. Δn\Delta_nΔn​ (Simplex n) is the standard nnn-simplex in Rn+1\mathbb{R}^{n+1}Rn+1, and ρ(x)=x/∑i∣xi∣\rho(x) = x / \sum_i |x_i|ρ(x)=x/∑i​∣xi​∣ (rho). A map on U⊆ΔnU \subseteq \Delta_nU⊆Δn​ is integral projective (IsIntegralProjective) when it is ρ∘A\rho \circ Aρ∘A for some A∈GL(n+1,Z)A \in GL(n+1, \mathbb{Z})A∈GL(n+1,Z) with A(U)A(U)A(U) in the nonnegative orthant (p. 249). Subdivisions of Δn\Delta_nΔn​ are Mathlib's geometric simplicial complexes (Geometry.SimplicialComplex), finite and with underlying space Δn\Delta_nΔn​; a subdivision is rational or integral when each nnn-simplex has rational vertices, or is the image of Δn\Delta_nΔn​ under an integral projective map. lift and ind are the primitive integer lift of a rational point and the index of a rational simplex (p. 250).

PIP maps. PIP(Δn)PIP(\Delta_n)PIP(Δn​) (PIPSet n) is the set of homeomorphisms of Δn\Delta_nΔn​ that are integral projective on each simplex of some integral subdivision. PIP+(Δn)PIP^+(\Delta_n)PIP+(Δn​) (PIPPlusSet n) consists of the orientation-preserving ones; in Lean orientation is read off the pieces, which are required to be ρ∘A\rho \circ Aρ∘A with det⁡A=1\det A = 1detA=1.

The interval and the circle. On p. 251 the notes move Δ1\Delta_1Δ1​ to Δ1′={(t,1)}\Delta_1' = \{(t, 1)\}Δ1′​={(t,1)} and identify it with [0,1][0,1][0,1]. There a map is integral projective (IsIntegralProjective01) when it is t↦x/yt \mapsto x/yt↦x/y with (x,y)=A(t,1)(x, y) = A(t, 1)(x,y)=A(t,1), A∈GL(2,Z)A \in GL(2, \mathbb{Z})A∈GL(2,Z) and 0≤x≤y0 \le x \le y0≤x≤y. An interval [a/b,c/d][a/b, c/d][a/b,c/d] is recorded by four natural numbers (FracInterval), with left part [a/b,(a+c)/(b+d)][a/b, (a+c)/(b+d)][a/b,(a+c)/(b+d)] and right part [(a+c)/(b+d),c/d][(a+c)/(b+d), c/d][(a+c)/(b+d),c/d], and fareyNode follows a path of left and right steps from [0,1][0,1][0,1] down the tree T′\mathcal{T}'T′ of integral subsimplices. PIP+PIP^+PIP+ of [0,1][0,1][0,1] (PIPPlus01Set) consists of the order isomorphisms of [0,1][0,1][0,1] that are integral projective on each interval of an integral partition, and RepresentsPIP reads a §2 tree diagram on T′\mathcal{T}'T′ instead of on the dyadic tree. PIP+(S1)PIP^+(S^1)PIP+(S1) (PIPPlusCircleSet) consists of the permutations of UnitAddCircle with an order-preserving lift to R\mathbb{R}R commuting with x↦x+1x \mapsto x + 1x↦x+1 that is integral projective, up to an integer, on each interval of an integral partition of [0,1][0,1][0,1], the way the published TTT is defined through lifts.

Target

The goal is Theorem 7.3 (p. 254),

T≅PIP+(S1),T \cong PIP^+(S^1),T≅PIP+(S1),

together with the sentence that follows it, which names the three maps of PIP+(S1)PIP^+(S^1)PIP+(S1) corresponding to TTT's generators AAA, BBB, CCC: the goal asks for an isomorphism sending them to exactly those maps (pipA, pipB, pipC).

The milestones follow the section. For Δn\Delta_nΔn​: integral projective maps are homeomorphisms onto their images, PIP(Δn)PIP(\Delta_n)PIP(Δn​) is closed under inversion, two integral subdivisions have a common rational refinement (the notes cite Rourke and Sanderson), the index of a rational simplex, Theorem 7.1 (every rational subdivision refines to an integral one), PIP(Δn)PIP(\Delta_n)PIP(Δn​) is a group, and PIP+(Δn)PIP^+(\Delta_n)PIP+(Δn​) has index 222 in it. For the interval: PIP+(Δ1)PIP^+(\Delta_1)PIP+(Δ1​) is isomorphic to its model on [0,1][0,1][0,1]; [a/b,c/d][a/b, c/d][a/b,c/d] is an integral subsimplex exactly when ad−bc=−1ad - bc = -1ad−bc=−1; left and right parts are integral; T′\mathcal{T}'T′ is an ordered rooted binary tree; integral projective maps between integral subsimplices are unique and given by an explicit formula; they restrict to, and are glued from, maps of the left and right parts; reduced tree diagrams correspond bijectively to PIP+PIP^+PIP+ of [0,1][0,1][0,1]; and Theorem 7.2, F≅PIP+(Δ1)F \cong PIP^+(\Delta_1)F≅PIP+(Δ1​).

Significance

The result. Thurston's description identifies FFF and TTT with groups of piecewise PSL(2,Z)PSL(2, \mathbb{Z})PSL(2,Z) maps of the interval and the circle, the dyadic tree becoming the Farey tree. The same substitution carries each element of FFF or TTT to its projective model; the conjugating map is Minkowski's question mark function.

Formalizing it. Nothing on this platform or in Mathlib concerns piecewise projective groups, the Farey tree of intervals or Minkowski's function. The mission reuses the published FFF, TTT and the tree diagrams of §2.

Difficulty

Theorem 7.1 is the one argument in the section that is not about the interval: a descent on the index, starring a rational subdivision at a well-chosen rational point. Mathlib has geometric simplicial complexes but no subdivisions, starring or common refinements, so both Theorem 7.1 and the cited results of Rourke and Sanderson need that apparatus built. The interval half is elementary number theory of 2×22 \times 22×2 integer matrices (the notes' proof of connectedness of T′\mathcal{T}'T′ is a Euclidean-algorithm descent), followed by the tree-diagram argument of §2 repeated on T′\mathcal{T}'T′.

What is left out

  • The Farey-tree remark on p. 252 (replacing each vertex [a/b,c/d][a/b, c/d][a/b,c/d] of T′\mathcal{T}'T′ by the mediant (a+c)/(b+d)(a+c)/(b+d)(a+c)/(b+d) gives the Farey tree): a relabelling that no statement uses.
  • The remark after Theorem 7.2 that the proof of Theorem 7.2 also proves Theorem 7.3; Theorem 7.3 is stated directly.

Formalization scope

  • PIP(Δn)PIP(\Delta_n)PIP(Δn​) and PIP+(Δn)PIP^+(\Delta_n)PIP+(Δn​) are sets of homeomorphisms Simplex n ≃ₜ Simplex n. The milestones that they are groups assert a subgroup with exactly that carrier, and Theorem 7.2 asserts such a subgroup for PIP+(Δ1)PIP^+(\Delta_1)PIP+(Δ1​) together with an isomorphism from FFF.
  • The index-2 milestone assumes n≥1n \ge 1n≥1: for n=0n = 0n=0, Δ0\Delta_0Δ0​ is a point and PIP+(Δ0)=PIP(Δ0)PIP^+(\Delta_0) = PIP(\Delta_0)PIP+(Δ0​)=PIP(Δ0​).
  • The converse of p. 253 (two integral projective maps of the left and right parts glue to one) is stated for maps carrying endpoints to the corresponding endpoints, the orientation the section works with; maps swapping the endpoints of both parts do not glue.
  • Reused platform theorems, which solutions may import: the §2 tree-diagram theorems (every tree diagram represents an element of FFF, every element has a unique reduced tree diagram, tree diagrams compose).

Selected references

  • J. W. Cannon, W. J. Floyd, W. R. Parry, Introductory notes on Richard Thompson's groups, L'Enseignement Mathématique (2) 42 (1996) 215–256, §7 pp. 249–254. doi:10.5169/seals-87877
  • C. P. Rourke, B. J. Sanderson, Introduction to Piecewise-Linear Topology, Ergebnisse der Mathematik und ihrer Grenzgebiete 69, Springer, 1972. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-81735-9
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Linear algebraMachine LearningProbability·Captain: Minghui

Fine-Tuning Can Distort Pretrained Features: Perfect-Feature LP-FT SeparationResearch Paper

Why initialization matters for transfer learning

Transfer learning starts with a representation learned on an earlier task and adapts it to a new one. Two common choices are linear probing, which changes only the final linear predictor, and fine-tuning, which changes the representation as well. These procedures optimize related training objectives, but their behavior away from the training data can differ. Kumar and coauthors study this distinction through two-layer linear networks, alongside experiments with nonlinear networks. This mission formalizes their perfect-feature LP-FT result, rather than the empirical claims or the general imperfect-feature comparison. See Section 3.4, Proposition 3.7, PDF p. 10.

LP-FT first learns a head by linear probing and then uses that head to initialize full fine-tuning. The perfect-feature setting isolates the effect of head initialization: the representation already contains exactly the features needed to predict the labels, but the head initially need not use them correctly. The mathematical question is whether joint training preserves or loses the representation's ability to predict outside the observed training subspace.

Linear predictors, training data, and OOD loss

An input is a vector x∈Rdx\in\mathbb R^dx∈Rd. A feature extractor is a matrix B∈Rk×dB\in\mathbb R^{k\times d}B∈Rk×d, and a head is a vector v∈Rkv\in\mathbb R^kv∈Rk. Together they predict v⊤Bxv^\top Bxv⊤Bx, with effective weight vector B⊤vB^\top vB⊤v. The fixed matrix X∈Rn×dX\in\mathbb R^{n\times d}X∈Rn×d contains the nnn training inputs as rows. Their span is S=rowspace⁡(X)S=\operatorname{rowspace}(X)S=rowspace(X), with dimension mmm.

The ground truth has orthonormal-row features B⋆B_\starB⋆​ and a nonzero head v⋆v_\starv⋆​. Write w⋆=B⋆⊤v⋆w_\star=B_\star^\top v_\starw⋆​=B⋆⊤​v⋆​ and Y=Xw⋆Y=Xw_\starY=Xw⋆​. Perfect pretrained features mean B0=UB⋆B_0=UB_\starB0​=UB⋆​ for an orthogonal matrix UUU. The corresponding aligned head is u=Uv⋆u=Uv_\staru=Uv⋆​. The dimensions satisfy 1≤k≤m1\le k\le m1≤k≤m and m+k<dm+k<dm+k<d.

The two geometric assumptions require the orthogonal projections from R0=rowspace⁡(B0)R_0=\operatorname{rowspace}(B_0)R0​=rowspace(B0​) into SSS and into S⊥S^\perpS⊥ to be injective. In this dimension regime these are exactly the positive largest-principal-angle cosine conditions used by the paper. They demand more than two subspaces having some nonorthogonal directions. The Lean definition spells out injectivity of v↦ΠTB0⊤vv\mapsto\Pi_T B_0^\top vv↦ΠT​B0⊤​v for each T∈{S,S⊥}T\in\{S,S^\perp\}T∈{S,S⊥}. See Definition 3.2 and Appendix A.1, PDF pp. 7 and 22-23.

An out-of-distribution law μ\muμ is any probability measure on Rd\mathbb R^dRd with a finite second moment and positive-definite uncentered second-moment matrix Σ=Eμ[xx⊤]\Sigma=\mathbb E_\mu[xx^\top]Σ=Eμ​[xx⊤]. Its mean need not be zero. Define

LOOD(v,B)=Ex∼μ[(v⊤Bx−w⋆⊤x)2].L_{\rm OOD}(v,B)=\mathbb E_{x\sim\mu} [(v^\top Bx-w_\star^\top x)^2].LOOD​(v,B)=Ex∼μ​[(v⊤Bx−w⋆⊤​x)2].

Both training methods use the unnormalized loss L^(v,B)=∥XB⊤v−Y∥22\widehat L(v,B)=\|XB^\top v-Y\|_2^2L(v,B)=∥XB⊤v−Y∥22​. Fine-tuning follows its gradient flow in both parameters; linear probing keeps B=B0B=B_0B=B0​. Time is real and nonnegative. These are the paper's equations (3.2)-(3.3), PDF p. 6.

Formalization targets

The goal is Proposition 3.7 in an explicit nonzero-signal regime. For σ>0\sigma>0σ>0, initialize an FT head with independent Gaussian coordinates, v0∼N(0,σ2Ik)v_0\sim\mathcal N(0,\sigma^2I_k)v0​∼N(0,σ2Ik​). Establish

Pr⁡ ⁣[∀t≥0,LOOD(vFT(t),BFT(t))>0]=1.\Pr\!\left[\forall t\ge0,\quad L_{\rm OOD}(v_{\rm FT}(t),B_{\rm FT}(t))>0\right]=1.Pr[∀t≥0,LOOD​(vFT​(t),BFT​(t))>0]=1.

Linear probing, from any initial head, must converge to uuu. Fine-tuning initialized at its limit must satisfy

vLP(t)⟶u,∀t≥0,LOOD(vLP-FT(t),BLP-FT(t))=0.v_{\rm LP}(t)\longrightarrow u,\qquad \forall t\ge0,\quad L_{\rm OOD}(v_{\rm LP\text{-}FT}(t),B_{\rm LP\text{-}FT}(t))=0.vLP​(t)⟶u,∀t≥0,LOOD​(vLP-FT​(t),BLP-FT​(t))=0.

The probability-one event applies to all times simultaneously. The goal also asserts existence of the relevant global flows; a conditional claim about a possibly nonexistent trajectory would not suffice. The statement does not assert a numerical error lower bound or a positive time-infimum.

Seven milestones supply the supporting results: global flow existence and FT uniqueness; unchanged features orthogonal to the training span; the balancedness invariant; the second-moment identity for OOD risk; almost-sure Gaussian head misalignment; exact LP recovery; and stationarity after LP initialization. The principal source is Appendices A.2 and A.7, PDF pp. 23-31 and 45-47.

What the result establishes

The result distinguishes two initializations of the same joint-training procedure. In this idealized setting, a head obtained by linear probing gives zero OOD loss throughout subsequent fine-tuning, while a Gaussian head almost surely has positive OOD loss at every finite time. The conclusion concerns population squared prediction error, not classification accuracy or a finite test-set estimate.

The paper establishes the mathematical claim; this mission asks for a Lean proof of the stated model and result. The scope is deliberately limited to perfect pretrained features. It does not claim an LP-FT upper bound for imperfect features, which the authors identify as a further challenge in Section 3.4, PDF p. 10. A completed development would also provide reusable components for finite dimensional gradient flows, factorized linear models, and population risk.

Why the proof needs the training dynamics

The training loss alone does not select a unique effective predictor in an overparameterized problem. Knowing that a predictor fits the observed examples therefore does not determine its OOD loss. Formalization must track the head and feature extractor together, and it must distinguish parameter stationarity from a claim that a derivative happens to vanish at one time. The Gaussian conclusion also requires one event controlling an uncountable set of times; separate probability-one statements for individual times would be weaker.

Formalization scope and conventions

Vectors use Mathlib's finite dimensional real Euclidean spaces. Matrices are represented as continuous linear maps, with Euclidean adjoints and operator norms. The feature update is written explicitly as the Frobenius-gradient equation; it is not a gradient with respect to the operator norm. Differentiability is imposed within [0,∞)[0,\infty)[0,∞), including the right derivative at zero.

The dimensions, nonzero target, positive Gaussian scale, finite second moments, and projection injectivity are explicit. The nonzero target restricts the formalization to the regime of the Gaussian alignment argument in Lemma A.12; k≤mk\le mk≤m makes the identifiability condition used in Proposition A.20 precise. The random-head law is the scaled standard Gaussian measure. No randomness of the fixed training matrix or independence from an additional data draw is assumed.

The model contains no assumed convergence, invariant, or desired risk bound. Each of those is a theorem obligation. The well-posedness milestone makes explicit an analytic prerequisite of the source's flow notation. The risk milestone uses the identity in (A.29)-(A.32), avoiding the reversed inequality printed in (A.28). The quantitative constant in Theorem 3.3 is outside this mission. Source-aligned proofs and the supporting analysis infrastructure are welcome; changing the learning rule or assuming a milestone inside the model would change the task.

Selected references

  • Ananya Kumar, Aditi Raghunathan, Robbie Jones, Tengyu Ma, and Percy Liang, Fine-Tuning can Distort Pretrained Features and Underperform Out-of-Distribution, ICLR 2022, arXiv:2202.10054v1. Main target: Section 3.4, Proposition 3.7, PDF p. 10, equations (3.10)-(3.11); proof: Appendix A.7, PDF pp. 45-47, Proposition A.20 and (A.208)-(A.218). Supporting invariants: Appendix A.2, PDF p. 24, Lemmas A.3-A.4, equations (A.15)-(A.20). Gaussian alignment: Appendix A.3, PDF pp. 34-35, Lemmas A.11-A.12.
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Number Theory·Captain: xuanji

Every Odd Number Greater Than 1 is the Sum of at Most 100001 PrimesResearch Paper

Motivation

Goldbach's problem asks whether every integer greater than 111 can be written as a sum of a small number of primes. The first unconditional result of this kind was obtained by Schnirelmann around 1930: there is an absolute constant kkk such that every integer n>1n > 1n>1 is a sum of at most kkk primes. His argument is elementary. It uses an upper-bound sieve and Chebyshev-type prime estimates, together with a notion of additive density, and it does not need the prime number theorem or complex analysis.

The constant has since been reduced by much deeper methods. A short timeline for odd nnn:

  • Schnirelmann (1930s): some finite kkk, by elementary methods.
  • Vinogradov (1937): every sufficiently large odd integer is a sum of three primes, with an ineffective threshold in the original argument.
  • Ramaré (1995): every even integer is a sum of at most six primes, which gives at most seven primes for every odd n>1n > 1n>1. (Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa, 1995)
  • Tao (2014): every odd n>1n > 1n>1 is a sum of at most five primes. (arXiv:1201.6656)
  • Helfgott (2013): every odd n>5n > 5n>5 is a sum of three primes (the ternary Goldbach conjecture). (arXiv:1312.7748)

This mission targets a much weaker constant than any of these, k=100 001k = 100\,001k=100001. It does so because the constant comes from Schnirelmann's elementary method with every estimate made explicit, and that proof is short enough to be a realistic target for a complete formalization.

Setting

A representation of nnn as a sum of at most kkk primes is a finite multiset sss of natural numbers such that every element of sss is prime, the elements of sss sum to nnn, and sss has at most kkk elements counted with multiplicity. Repetitions are allowed and order is irrelevant.

The number 111 is not a sum of primes, so the question concerns odd n≥3n \ge 3n≥3. Even numbers are excluded from the campaign statement.

The Schnirelmann density of a set A⊆Z≥0A \subseteq \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}A⊆Z≥0​ is

σ(A)=inf⁡N≥1∣A∩{1,…,N}∣N.\sigma(A) = \inf_{N \ge 1} \frac{|A \cap \{1, \dots, N\}|}{N}.σ(A)=N≥1inf​N∣A∩{1,…,N}∣​.

This notion is the additive tool behind the elementary approach. Mathlib provides it as schnirelmannDensity.

Formalization target

Goal

∀n∈N,n odd, n>1  ⟹  ∃ s multiset of primes, ∣s∣≤100 001, ∑s=n.\forall n \in \mathbb{N},\quad n \text{ odd},\ n > 1 \implies \exists\, s \text{ multiset of primes},\ |s| \le 100\,001,\ \textstyle\sum s = n.∀n∈N,n odd, n>1⟹∃s multiset of primes, ∣s∣≤100001, ∑s=n.

This is the campaign template of Odd numbers as sums of primes with the value 100 001100\,001100001 filled in. A stronger explicit form in the source is that every odd n≥200 003n \ge 200\,003n≥200003 is a sum of exactly 100 001100\,001100001 primes; the at-most form for all odd n>1n > 1n>1 follows from it immediately.

Significance

The result itself. The bound 100 001100\,001100001 is far from the best known constants; five (Tao) and three (Helfgott) are both known on paper. Its value is that it rests on an elementary argument with every constant written out. There is no "sufficiently large" threshold and no appeal to the prime number theorem, zero-density estimates, or large-scale computation.

Formalizing it. No finite bound in this problem has a machine-checked proof on this platform yet. A proof of this goal would be the campaign's first proved value. The components are reusable beyond this mission:

  1. Explicit Chebyshev-type bounds for π(y)\pi(y)π(y).
  2. An explicit Selberg upper-bound sieve for the number of representations of an even number as a sum of two odd primes.
  3. An averaged bound for the associated singular-series factor.
  4. Schnirelmann's density inequality σ(D+E)≥σ(D)+σ(E)−σ(D)σ(E)\sigma(D + E) \ge \sigma(D) + \sigma(E) - \sigma(D)\sigma(E)σ(D+E)≥σ(D)+σ(E)−σ(D)σ(E).

Difficulty

The only substantial step is an upper bound for

r(s)=#{(p,q):p,q odd primes, p+q=s}r(s) = \#\{(p, q) : p, q \text{ odd primes},\ p + q = s\}r(s)=#{(p,q):p,q odd primes, p+q=s}

that is sharp up to a constant factor, namely of order s/(log⁡s)2s/(\log s)^2s/(logs)2 times an arithmetic factor depending on the prime divisors of sss, with an explicit constant. The trivial bound r(s)≤π(s)r(s) \le \pi(s)r(s)≤π(s) is weaker by a factor of log⁡s\log slogs. That loss makes the density of sums of two primes appear to be zero, so the additive argument cannot start. Everything after the sieve bound is short and explicit.

Formalization scope

The Lean statement is the campaign template verbatim with 100 001100\,001100001 in place of the value. It uses Multiset ℕ, Nat.Prime, and Odd n ∧ 1 < n. The statement is fixed by the campaign, and it has no vacuous hypotheses: every odd n>1n > 1n>1 is covered.

Mathlib already contains schnirelmannDensity and the fact that σ(A)+σ(B)≥1\sigma(A) + \sigma(B) \ge 1σ(A)+σ(B)≥1 with 0∈A∩B0 \in A \cap B0∈A∩B implies A+B=NA + B = \mathbb{N}A+B=N. It also contains the Λ² setup of the Selberg sieve (Mathlib/NumberTheory/SelbergSieve.lean) and central-binomial-coefficient bounds. Missing, and welcome as contributions:

  1. The explicit sieve bound for r(s)r(s)r(s).
  2. The mean-square bound for the arithmetic factor.
  3. Schnirelmann's inequality for σ(D+E)\sigma(D + E)σ(D+E).
  4. The explicit lower bound for π(y)\pi(y)π(y) in the form needed here.

Selected references

  • P. Pollack, Not Always Buried Deep: A Second Course in Elementary Number Theory, AMS, 2009. Chapter 6, §6, "An application to the Goldbach problem", pp. 196–201. https://www.pollack-math.net/NABDofficial.pdf
  • K. S. Kedlaya, Notes on Analytic Number Theory, Chapter 13, "The Selberg sieve". https://kskedlaya.org/ant/chap-selberg.html
  • O. Ramaré, On Šnirel'man's constant, Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa Cl. Sci. (4) 22 (1995), 645–706. http://www.numdam.org/item/ASNSP_1995_4_22_4_645_0/
  • T. Tao, Every odd number greater than 1 is the sum of at most five primes, Math. Comp. 83 (2014), 997–1038. https://arxiv.org/abs/1201.6656
  • H. A. Helfgott, The ternary Goldbach conjecture is true, 2013. https://arxiv.org/abs/1312.7748
  • An explicit elementary constant for sums of primes, unpublished note, September 2026, Theorem 1. Source of the constant 100 001100\,001100001 (with c1=1/9c_1 = 1/9c1​=1/9, c2=860c_2 = 860c2​=860, x0=e2000x_0 = e^{2000}x0​=e2000, σ(A)≥1/35 000\sigma(A) \ge 1/35\,000σ(A)≥1/35000, m=25 000m = 25\,000m=25000).
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