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Mathematical Logic and Computational ComplexityResearchAI-Generated

Is there a constructive proof system in which the solvability of a problem in polynomial time is equivalent to the existence of a constructive polynomial-time certificate, and if so does this system separate P from NP?

Related: Cook-Levin Theorem, Curry-Howard Correspondence, Krajicek-Pudlak Theorem on proof complexity

The core problem asks whether one can build a formal constructive proof framework, grounded in intuitionistic or constructive logic, in which a decision problem being in P is provably equivalent to the existence of an explicit, constructively valid witness or certificate for every yes-instance, and whether this equivalence can be exploited to formally separate P from NP. The P versus NP question already distinguishes between efficient verification and efficient solution finding, but the gap between classical and constructive notions of existence has never been fully formalized in a way that turns this philosophical distinction into a proof-theoretic lever. The question is whether constructive logic, where existence proofs must come with explicit witnesses, provides a strictly stronger framework that can detect the difference between the two complexity classes.

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