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Uniformly bounded components of Gaussian-prime graphs

OpenAI groups related papers into a “family”. OpenAI’s catalogue describes this one:

Proves the Gaussian moat conjecture: no infinite walk through distinct Gaussian primes can have uniformly bounded steps. More strongly, for every distance bound D, the graph joining Gaussian primes at distance at most D has uniformly bounded finite component sizes, depending only on D, including primes on the coordinate axes. (OpenAI’s Lean note)

Lean is a language for mathematical statements and proofs that a computer can verify. The assessments below ask whether those statements express the result OpenAI describes here.

Both independent assessments find that the Lean statements express or imply the whole result described above. Read the assessments

It bears on Erdős problem #952, as listed by Thomas Bloom, erdosproblems.com.

What the papers state

Theorem 1.1 (Uniform component bound)

In Bounded-Step Walks on Gaussian Primes, 26 September 2026

Possible match to OpenAI’s description, selected from the papers’ main statements because it shares the most wording. No review confirming the selection is recorded.

For every finite real D there is a finite B_D such that every connected component of G_D has at most B_D vertices. The bound is independent of the starting prime and includes primes on the coordinate axes. Consequently every sequence of distinct Gaussian primes whose successive distances are at most D has at most B_D terms.

Theorem 1.2 (Finite sieve obstruction)

In Bounded-Step Walks on Gaussian Primes, 26 September 2026

Possible match to OpenAI’s description, selected from shared wording. No review confirming the selection is recorded.

For every D\ge1 there is a finite set \mathcal P_D of rational primes congruent to 1 modulo 4 such that \mathcal A(\mathcal P_D) contains no infinite sequence of distinct points with successive distances at most D. The set \mathcal P_D depends only on D.

No Lean statement in the release is paired with this theorem.

The release does not say which paper theorem its catalogue describes. Both statements above are shown whole: the paper’s main theorem first, then the statement that shares the most wording with the description. The atlas has not reviewed either choice.

Reported proof verification
One Lean statement in the release; three independent groups report that Comparator accepted runs for this file at the version shown here.

Papers

Each paper opens as a reading page in the browser, with the PDF beside it. The statements each paper opens with are on its reading page.

Bounded-Step Walks on Gaussian Primes

26 September 2026, current edition.

Read it herePDF

We prove the Gaussian moat conjecture: no infinite walk through distinct Gaussian primes can have bounded steps. More strongly, for each fixed finite step bound, the connected components of the Gaussian-prime graph have uniformly bounded size. This bound applies to every starting prime, including primes on the coordinate axes, and is nonexplicit. The proof constructs a finite periodic sieve obstruction using geometric sampling and information-theoretic estimates.

One Lean statement in this family

Lean is a language for mathematical statements and proofs that a computer can verify. The Lean statement below is shown beside its possible paper counterpart, with the reason they were linked.

For a configured theorem, the Comparator program tests whether OpenAI’s separate proof proves the exact Lean statement using only the allowed axioms. Some statement files instead configure definitions for comparison by name and type. Acceptance does not establish that a formal statement means the same thing as the paper’s theorem.

GaussianMoat

The paper states

Theorem 1.1 (Uniform component bound)

In Bounded-Step Walks on Gaussian Primes, 26 September 2026

For every finite real D there is a finite B_D such that every connected component of G_D has at most B_D vertices. The bound is independent of the starting prime and includes primes on the coordinate axes. Consequently every sequence of distinct Gaussian primes whose successive distances are at most D has at most B_D terms.

The words they share: real, component, gaussian, finite, uniform, prime, connected, bound.

Possible Lean counterpart

Selected from shared wording. No review of whether the statements mean the same thing is recorded.

Uniform bounds for bounded-step Gaussian-prime walks

GaussianMoat.lean, the release lists it as a main result.

theorem fullMain : MainEndpoint ∧ UniformEndpoint := by  sorry

This file states the theorem with sorry, a placeholder, in place of its proof. OpenAI supplies a separate proof file. Comparator tests whether that proof proves the statement here.

three independent groups report that Comparator accepted runs for this Lean statement file: cert-machine; MathVet; Neal McBurnett, openai-math-lean-tooling. Who ran the proof-verification program

  • cert-machine records it as “CERTIFIED”.
  • MathVet records it as “comparator-sandboxed-pass”.
  • Neal McBurnett, openai-math-lean-tooling records it as “accepted”.

Read the complete Lean statement

Other mathematical statements in OpenAI’s Lean library

Atlas found these propositions by scanning the text of the project’s Model.lean file. Each name links to its definition, with any associated statement file beside it. This list does not record running Lean to interpret or verify those definitions.

Independent comparisons and proof-verification reports

Does the Lean express the advertised result?

MathVet and cert-machine agree on how much of the advertised result the Lean statements express.

MathVet and Carlos Toledo’s cert-machine independently assessed whether this family’s Lean statements express the whole result OpenAI describes in its catalogue. These are assessments of the family as a whole, not of each paper theorem separately.

MathVet finds that the Lean statements express or imply the whole advertised result (their term: “full”).

Their note: None; both the no-infinite-walk statement and the uniform finite component/walk-length bound are stated for every real D.

“full”, in their words: The challenge statements imply the headline claim after unpacking definitions or one routine step.

Their method: An independent, model-assisted, pre-referee reading of each family’s challenge statements against its headline claim under a published rubric (PROTOCOL.md), with its own Comparator runs per challenge.

cert-machine finds that the Lean statements express or imply the whole advertised result (their term: “MATCHES”).

“MATCHES”, in their words: The challenge statements state the headline as OpenAI wrote it.

Their method: Every Comparator challenge re-run on Linux with nanoda switched on, decided by a preregistered rule.

OpenAI’s own note on what its Lean covers

The Gaussian moat problem asks whether an infinite walk through distinct Gaussian primes can have bounded step lengths. The formalized result gives a negative answer for every real step bound $D$. More strongly, one finite bound depending only on $D$ limits the size of every connected component of the bounded-step graph and the length of every injective bounded-step walk. Axis primes and all associates are included. No explicit function of $D$ is supplied.

AI-drafted comparisons, with no recorded human review

  • Uniform bounds for bounded-step Gaussian-prime walks GaussianMoat

    Unreviewed AI draft: states a paper’s theorem as the paper does. States the main theorem: for every step bound D, the connected components of the bounded-step Gaussian-prime graph have uniformly bounded size, so no infinite bounded-step walk exists.

Who ran the proof-verification program?

These groups report running Comparator with the release’s Lean statement files. For a configured theorem, it verifies OpenAI’s separate proof against the exact statement; some files instead configure definitions for comparison by name and type. Each row is the named group’s report. Atlas has not repeated the runs.

These reports do not list the software versions, proof-verification programs, axioms, time or memory in separate fields. Any such details in a report’s prose are reproduced below.

Uniform bounds for bounded-step Gaussian-prime walks GaussianMoat

Three reports, all at the release’s recorded version.

Reported byTheir wordTheir accountDateOriginal report
cert-machine“CERTIFIED”Re-run through Comparator with the independent nanoda kernel switched on: Lean’s kernel and nanoda both accept OpenAI’s solution.10 October 2026Original report
MathVet“comparator-sandboxed-pass”Re-run through Comparator in a sandboxed virtual machine: accepted.8 October 2026Original report
Neal McBurnett, openai-math-lean-tooling“accepted”Re-run through Comparator with Lean’s kernel: accepted (the check took 180 s; peak memory 6.6 GiB).11 October 2026Original report

Other proofs and exact calculations

These reports examine claims in the papers using HOL Light, a different proof assistant, independently of the release’s Lean proofs. Read each report for the exact claim it covers.

  • A finite nonempty set in the plane is not invariant under a nonzero translation

    HOL Light card 028

    Reported by
    Ben Knill, openai-math-hol-cards
    Method
    Proof of a selected step in HOL Light
    Their verdict
    “PASS” The report records a proof of a supporting fact.
    What it covers
    Cross-check of a Lean-covered result; on-screen value
    Original report
    Their report

What these papers cite in the release, and what cites them

These links come from the papers’ bibliographies. A citation records that one paper cites another; how each cited result is used has not been examined here.

Papers elsewhere in the release that this family’s papers cite

This family’s papers cite no paper elsewhere in the release.

Papers elsewhere in the release that cite this family’s papers

No paper elsewhere in the release cites this family’s papers.

Follow-up work by others

  • The Justin Sun Prize, The Justin Sun Prize: problem bank and award records, 11 October 2026. Source

    JSP-000792 lists the release’s claim as Solved with independent mathematical review pending; Lean proof column: reported complete, independent verification pending.

  • Kenta Kitamura, Add three variants of Erdős Problem 952 (issue 7091), 10 October 2026. Source

    Three Erdős 952 variants with Lean proofs proposed, the first being the release’s uniform Gaussian moat theorem.

  • KitaKen1, KitaKen1/erdos-952-binary-form-moat-classification: Lean proofs generalising the Gaussian moat results to binary forms, 10 October 2026. Source

    Generalised moat and binary-form classification stated beyond OpenAI’s uniform Gaussian moat, with Lean proofs.

References outside the release

Each paper’s outside references are listed with it on its reading page, where each citation is placed. Every outside work cited in the release: References outside the release

Explain a result, compare statements or propose a correction

Atlas has no contributed explanation for this family yet. You can offer one with a GitHub account. You receive named credit and disclose any AI assistance.

Each button opens a GitHub form with this page and its source version filled in. Opening the form does not reserve the work.

Offer to write an explanationCompare the Lean statement with the paperSuggest a source attributionSuggest a change

What people have said

Commentary on this family by others, dated and credited. It is commentary, not a finding.

  • An unsigned public tier list, the OpenAI Math Tier List, classes it as a proof and rates its significance, if it holds up, as “Major math journal”. The page says that nothing on it is verified.

    Author not stated. Source

  • Moritz Firsching, anxkhn, Paul Lezeau, Formal Conjectures: mark problems solved in the OpenAI math release and link formal proofs, 11 October 2026. Source

    A Formal Conjectures maintainer, after source inspection, links the Gaussian-prime moat result to Erdos problem 952, recording a norm against distance difference.

  • Thomas Bloom, Erdős problems in the OpenAI proofs, 8 October 2026. Source

    Bloom lists Erdős 952 (bounded step walks on Gaussian primes), notes the problem likely began with Gordon and Motzkin, and links the formalisation.

Questions awaiting review

Each item identifies a statement, definition or report that needs further review. Its link opens a GitHub form with the source version already recorded.

Read the Lean statement against the paper

  • An AI agent drafted an assessment of which part of the paper this Lean statement expresses. No named human review is recorded. Open the form

Identify the theorem the catalogue describes

  • Family 028 The theorem shown was selected from shared wording with OpenAI’s description. Atlas records no review confirming that it is the theorem the description means. Open the form

Compare the proposed paper and Lean matches

  • Family 028 Atlas records no review of whether each linked Lean statement and paper theorem mean the same thing. Open the form