English

Attractors Is All You Need: Parity Games In Polynomial Time

Data Structures and Algorithms 2025-11-07 v1 Computational Complexity Formal Languages and Automata Theory Computer Science and Game Theory Logic in Computer Science

Abstract

This paper provides a polynomial-time algorithm for solving parity games that runs in O(n2(n+m))\mathcal{O}(n^{2}\cdot(n + m)) time-ending a search that has taken decades. Unlike previous attractor-based algorithms, the presented algorithm only removes regions with a determined winner. The paper introduces a new type of attractor that can guarantee finding the minimal dominion of a parity game. The attractor runs in polynomial time and can peel the graph empty.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2511.03752,
  title  = {Attractors Is All You Need: Parity Games In Polynomial Time},
  author = {Rick van der Heijden},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.03752},
  year   = {2025}
}