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The Proof Agent Kept Its Relaxations in a Separate Branch

VALG tracks theorem scope, proof dependencies and formulation changes so a weaker result cannot silently masquerade as the original target.

Published Updated Story ID: mp-2026-08-14-009
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Summary

VALG tracks theorem scope, proof dependencies and formulation changes so a weaker result cannot silently masquerade as the original target.

The open-source system maintains a typed proof-dependency graph, reviews local proofs in order and routes failures to derivation repair, graph repair or an explicitly related theorem variant. Across nine subproblems from five COLT 2026 open problems, two runs produced internally finalized theorem candidates matching the source briefs; the rest yielded special cases, conditional results or restricted methods. The study demonstrates disciplined bookkeeping and candidate generation, not independent confirmation that the finalized theorems are correct or publishable.

Why it matters

VALG tracks theorem scope, proof dependencies and formulation changes so a weaker result cannot silently masquerade as the original target.

Limits and context

  • The study demonstrates disciplined bookkeeping and candidate generation, not independent confirmation that the finalized theorems are correct or publishable.

Key claims

  1. VALG tracks theorem scope, proof dependencies and formulation changes so a weaker result cannot silently masquerade as the original target.

    Qualification: The study demonstrates disciplined bookkeeping and candidate generation, not independent confirmation that the finalized theorems are correct or publishable.

    Evidence: source-2026-08-14-009

Sources

  1. arXiv preprint 2608.13060arXiv · primary research

Corrections

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