English

The 4/$\delta$ Bound: Designing Predictable LLM-Verifier Systems for Formal Method Guarantee

Artificial Intelligence 2025-12-18 v2 Formal Languages and Automata Theory Machine Learning Software Engineering

Abstract

The integration of Formal Verification tools with Large Language Models (LLMs) offers a path to scale software verification beyond manual workflows. However, current methods remain unreliable: without a solid theoretical footing, the refinement process acts as a black box that may oscillate, loop, or diverge. This work bridges this critical gap by developing an LLM-Verifier Convergence Theorem, providing the first formal framework with provable guarantees for termination in multi-stage verification pipelines. We model the interaction not as a generic loop, but as a sequential absorbing Markov Chain comprising four essential engineering stages: \texttt{CodeGen}, \texttt{Compilation}, \texttt{InvariantSynth}, and \texttt{SMTSolving}. We prove that for any non-zero stage success probability (δ>0\delta > 0), the system reaches the \texttt{Verified} state almost surely. Furthermore, because of the sequential nature of the pipeline, we derive a precise latency bound of E[n]4/δ\mathbb{E}[n] \leq 4/\delta. We stress-tested this prediction in an extensive empirical campaign comprising over 90,000 trials. The results match the theory with striking consistency: every run reached verification, and the empirical convergence factor clustered tightly around Cf1.0C_f\approx 1.0, confirming that the 4/δ4/\delta bound accurately mirrors system behavior rather than serving as a loose buffer. Based on this data, we identify three distinct operating zones -- marginal, practical, and high-performance -- and propose a dynamic calibration strategy to handle parameter drift in real-world environments. Together, these contributions replace heuristic guesswork with a rigorous architectural foundation, enabling predictable resource planning and performance budgeting for safety-critical software.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2512.02080,
  title  = {The 4/$\delta$ Bound: Designing Predictable LLM-Verifier Systems for Formal Method Guarantee},
  author = {PIerre Dantas and Lucas Cordeiro and Youcheng Sun and Waldir Junior},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.02080},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

36 pages, 9 figures

R2 v1 2026-07-01T08:04:27.226Z