Polynomial Invariants for Probabilistic Transition Systems with Unbounded Support
Computer Science > Logic in Computer Science
[Submitted on 2 Sep 2026]
Title:Polynomial Invariants for Probabilistic Transition Systems with Unbounded Support
View PDF HTML (experimental)Abstract:We study the synthesis of polynomial invariants for probabilistic transition systems (PTS) based on martingale theory. We present tractable methods to verify that such polynomials are indeed invariants, in the sense that their expected value upon termination is the same as their value at the start of the computation. We do this by applying the Optional Stopping Theorem (OST) in the form of a specific precondition. This precondition requires the existence of an integrable dominating function for the martingale expression, which implies uniform integrability; we refer to this condition as dui. For linear PTS we simplify the dui property to proving finiteness of the expected value of an expression depending on the update matrix, the degree of the martingale expression, and the stopping time. Specifically, if all random samples have finite moments and we can verify a moment bound on the runtime of a linear loop, then we can automatically synthesise polynomial loop invariants that satisfy the OST. Notably, dui allows for the sampled distributions to have unbounded support, which is a novel contribution to the field.
References & Citations
Loading...
Bibliographic and Citation Tools
Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?)
Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?)
Litmaps (What is Litmaps?)
scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?)
Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article
alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?)
CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?)
DagsHub (What is DagsHub?)
Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?)
Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?)
ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?)
Demos
Recommenders and Search Tools
Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?)
CORE Recommender (What is CORE?)
arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators
arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website.
Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them.
Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.
How it works
Once you click Generate, Ollama reads this article and crafts 5 comprehension questions. Your answers are graded against the article content — general knowledge won't be enough. Score 70+ to count toward your certificate.
Questions are cached — you'll always get the same 5 for this article.