Formalizing Chemical Physics using the Lean Theorem Prover
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Abstract (arXiv)
Chemical theory can be made more rigorous using the Lean theorem prover, an interactive theorem prover for complex mathematics. We formalize the Langmuir and BET theories of adsorption, making each scientific premise clear and every step of the derivations explicit. Lean's math library, mathlib, provides formally verified theorems for infinite geometries series, which are central to BET theory. While writing these proofs, Lean prompts us to include mathematical constraints that were not originally reported. We also illustrate how Lean flexibly enables the reuse of proofs that build on more complex theories through the use of functions, definitions, and structures. Finally, we construct scientific frameworks for interoperable proofs, by creating structures for classical thermodynamics and kinematics, using them to formalize gas law relationships like Boyle's Law and equations of motion underlying Newtonian mechanics, respectively. This approach can be extended to other fields, enabling the formalization of rich and complex theories in science and engineering.
Key facts. Cited by 9 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). First posted on arXiv 21 Oct 2022.
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Citing papers per year: 2025: 5; 2026: 4.
9 papers.
- 2025Physics Supernova: AI Agent Matches Elite Gold Medalists at IPhO 2025cited by 14
- 2025Lean4Physics: Comprehensive Reasoning Framework for College-level Physics in Lean4cited by 5
- 2026FormalScience: Scalable Human-in-the-Loop Autoformalisation of Science with Agentic Code Generation in Leancited by 4
- 2026Beyond the Library: An Agentic Framework for Autoformalizing Research Mathematicscited by 4
- 2025LeanTree: Accelerating White-Box Proof Search with Factorized States in Lean 4cited by 3
- 2025Formalized Hopfield Networks and Boltzmann Machinescited by 2
- 2026Theory-Level Autoformalization: From Isolated Statements to Unified Formal Knowledge Basescited by 1
- 2025A Community-driven vision for a new Knowledge Resource for AIcited by 0
- 2026AxQM: A Textbook-Scale Benchmark for Formal Proof Synthesis in a Library of Finite-Dimensional Quantum Mechanicscited by 0
- 2026AxQM: A Textbook-Scale Benchmark for Formal Proof Synthesis in a Library of Finite-Dimensional Quantum Mechanics4 Sep 2026
- 2026Theory-Level Autoformalization: From Isolated Statements to Unified Formal Knowledge Bases14 Jul 2026
- 2026Beyond the Library: An Agentic Framework for Autoformalizing Research Mathematics30 Jun 2026
- 2026FormalScience: Scalable Human-in-the-Loop Autoformalisation of Science with Agentic Code Generation in Lean24 Apr 2026
- 2025Formalized Hopfield Networks and Boltzmann Machines8 Dec 2025
- 2025Lean4Physics: Comprehensive Reasoning Framework for College-level Physics in Lean430 Oct 2025
- 2025Physics Supernova: AI Agent Matches Elite Gold Medalists at IPhO 20251 Sep 2025
- 2025LeanTree: Accelerating White-Box Proof Search with Factorized States in Lean 419 Jul 2025
- 2025A Community-driven vision for a new Knowledge Resource for AI19 Jun 2025