On Deciding the Constraint Loop Problem in Dimension Two

Recently, Guilmant, Lefaucheux, Ouaknine, and Worrell [2] proved decidability of the termination problem for linear constraint loops over two real-valued variables, thus settling a wellknown open problem. Their algorithm is based on a theoretical result that such a loop does not terminate if and only if it has a witness of an infinite run of a specific shape. By analysing the structure of the witness carefully, we show that termination such loops can be decided in polynomial time, improving on the polynomial space bound argued by Guilmant et al. We also present an efficient implementation of the polynomial-time algorithm based on the satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) solver Z3.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
arXiv (Cornell University)
Published
2026-10-29
DOI
https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2610.40378
Primary Topic
Formal Methods in Verification
Type
preprint
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preprint

On Deciding the Constraint Loop Problem in Dimension Two

Toghrul Karimov, Daria Goliasova
arXiv (Cornell University)
Formal Methods in Verification
preprint

On Deciding the Constraint Loop Problem in Dimension Two

Toghrul Karimov, Daria Goliasova
preprint en

Abstract

Recently, Guilmant, Lefaucheux, Ouaknine, and Worrell [2] proved decidability of the termination problem for linear constraint loops over two real-valued variables, thus settling a wellknown open problem. Their algorithm is based on a theoretical result that such a loop does not terminate if and only if it has a witness of an infinite run of a specific shape. By analysing the structure of the witness carefully, we show that termination such loops can be decided in polynomial time, improving on the polynomial space bound argued by Guilmant et al. We also present an efficient implementation of the polynomial-time algorithm based on the satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) solver Z3.

arXiv (Cornell University)
Formal Methods in Verification
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