SearcharxivSearch

arXiv · 2504.14561

Proof Scores: A Survey (full version)

Abstract

Proof scores can be regarded as outlines of the formal verification of system properties. They have been historically used by the OBJ family of specification languages. The main advantage of proof scores is that they follow the same syntax as the specification language they are used in, so specifiers can easily adopt them and use as many features as the particular language provides. In this way, proof scores have been successfully used to prove properties of a large number of systems and protocols. However, proof scores also present a number of disadvantages that prevented a large audience from adopting them as proving mechanism. In this paper we present the theoretical foundations of proof scores; the different systems where they have been adopted and their latest developments; the classes of systems successfully verified using proof scores, including the main techniques used for it; the main reasons why they have not been widely adopted; and finally we discuss some directions of future work that might solve the problems discussed previously.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Adrian Riesco, Kazuhiro Ogata, Masaki Nakamura, Daniel Gaina, Duong Dinh Tran, Kokichi Futatsugi. 2025-04-20. Proof Scores: A Survey (full version). https://doi.org/10.1145/3729166

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

A Four-Valued Graph Model for Conflict Resolution: Core Framework and a Machine-Checked Formalization in Lean 4

This note consolidates the core of the Quasi-Closed World Graph Model for Conflict Resolution (QCW-GMCR), which extends the standard Graph Model for Conflict Resolution with Belnap's four-valued logic to represent option-level epistemic ambiguity, and pairs the framework with a machine-checked Lean 4 formalization. QCW-GMCR combines: (1) FOUR-valued option assignments with compositional propagation to state-level feasibility; (2) graded reachability (definite, credible, possible) based on an FDE-inspired transition-warrant semantics, with definite reachability related to FDE consequence in the Boolean fragment; (3) axiomatized deterministic reductions from four-valued assessments to binary decisions, including four canonical operators reflecting distinct risk attitudes; and (4) catastrophe-avoiding equilibrium concepts with a quasi-closed-world safety invariant. A four-valued hypergame extension captures heterogeneous subjective assessments across decision makers. We state the core definitions and results and report the parts verified in Lean 4 with mathlib, including the classical GMCR stability hierarchy, algebraic and compositional properties of FOUR-valued conjunction, properties of the canonical reductions, and the graded reachability hierarchy. The formalization also helped identify and correct earlier claims, including a knowledge-monotonicity axiom replaced by truth monotonicity. This preprint provides a stable, citable record of the framework and its current formal verification status.

cs.LO

The Semantic Elevation Operator and the Closure of the Undecidable Class under Preservation

The undecidability of a program's static semantic properties is governed by Rice's theorem. Self-modifying systems, however, require analysing not whether a property holds now, but whether it is preserved when the system rewrites itself. We formalise this transition through a semantic elevation operator {\Lambda}{\Phi}, which turns the static question "does x satisfy P?" into the dynamic question "is P preserved after x is transformed by {\Phi}?". We prove that when {\Phi} is intensional (depending on the source code, not only on the computed function), the elevated property remains undecidable even though it breaks the extensionality that Rice's theorem requires; the proof rests on Kleene's recursion theorem, not on Rice. Consequently the class U of non-verifiable properties is closed under the elevation operator. Unbounded iteration of the operator climbs the arithmetical hierarchy -to {\Pi}02-completeness- consolidating non-verifiability as a structural fact. We further show that the supervisory regress does not terminate: no fnite tower of increasingly capable verifiers yields an unconditional certificate. A categorical reading of these results in the efective topos, in which elevation appears as an instance of Lawvere's fxed-point theorem, is left as a direction for future work.

cs.LO

Statistical Symmetry Release for Equivariant Quantum Learning

Hard symmetry constraints reduce model complexity, but can also erase label information. Statistical symmetry release determines when finite data and quantum measurements justify relaxing such a constraint, which directions to open, and how far to move. We connect global signal detection to local, loss-dependent improvement. A two-copy twirl--swap gate estimates task information in the symmetry-breaking complement with a dimension-independent copy count under paired-state and group-unitary access; reweighting the same records resolves representation sectors. An exact duality distinguishes this Hilbert--Schmidt signal from the larger signal accessible to bounded-outcome readouts. Local improvement is governed by the release gradient and a loss-corrected double-commutator matrix. Simultaneous confidence bounds convert empirical direction selection into certified descent, using either shared Pauli measurements or scalar probes with state-independent truncation bounds. Gaussian testing lower bounds quantify the cost of searching over unknown directions in the calibrated local experiment. Independent validation controls adaptively generated models, and a fast squared-loss bound preserves the approximation--estimation rate of a nested release path. On an eight-qubit Ising model, shared measurements certify release with 6300 times fewer shots than the specified scalar estimator on the tested budget grids. Quotient quantum natural gradient then controls parameter redundancy during training. Together, these results turn symmetry relaxation into a statistically justified model-selection decision.

cs.LO