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Xuran Cai

Oxford · Kaiserslautern

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Hi — I’m

Xuran Cai

Computer Science PhD student in the Oxford–Max Planck joint PhD program (2025–present). On the Oxford side, I am a member of Hertford College at the University of Oxford, supervised by Prof. Amir Goharshady. On the Max Planck side, I am at the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS), supervised by Prof. Rupak Majumdar. My research focuses on applications of graph theory in computer science and, more broadly, on optimization and verification problems in theoretical computer science.

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Current: Oxford–Max Planck joint PhD (Computer Science) — 2025–Present

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Education

Research

My research centers on applications of graph theory in computer science and, more broadly, on optimization and verification problems in theoretical computer science. I am funded by a scholarship from the University of Oxford and a researcher salary from the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS). Selected publications and manuscripts are listed below; for a complete record, please see my CV or Google Scholar profile.

Ongoing Research

Solving MDPs with an Error Budget

Verification

Under review at TACAS'27

Hub-Certificate Proofs for ARX-32 Impossible Differentials

Verification

Ongoing

SPL-Decompositions for Profile Inference

Optimization

Ongoing

Proving Features of Circuit Breakers

Verification

Ongoing

Selected Publications & Manuscripts

Venue rank, higher → lower: CORE A* A B C CCF A B C

Extending Programmable Blockchain Protocols to Enable and Incentivize Parallel Execution of Smart Contracts

Optimization

Sep 2026 — MARBLE'26

Authors: T. Barakbayeva, X. Cai, Z. Cai, A.K. Goharshady

Polynomial Invariant Generation for Floating Point Programs

Verification

Jul 2026 — CAV'26 CORE A*CCF-A

Authors: X. Cai, L. Chen, H. Fu

Series-Parallel-Loop Decompositions of Control-flow Graphs

Optimization

Feb 2026 — JSA'26 CCF-B

Authors: X. Cai, A.K. Goharshady, S. Hitarth, C.K. Lam

Efficient Algorithms for Partial Constraint Satisfaction Problems over Control-flow Graphs

Optimization

Dec 2025 — SETTA'25 CCF-C

Authors: X. Cai, A.K. Goharshady

Enhancing Compiler Optimization Efficiency through Grammatical Decompositions of Control-Flow Graphs

Optimization

Jul 2025 — MPhil Thesis, HKUST Thesis

Author: X. Cai

Faster Chaitin-like Register Allocation via Grammatical Decompositions of CFGs

Optimization

Mar 2025 — ASPLOS'25 CORE A*CCF-A

Authors: X. Cai, A.K. Goharshady, S. Hitarth, C.K. Lam

Faster Lifetime-optimal Speculative Partial Redundancy Elimination for Goto-free Programs

Optimization

Nov 2024 — SETTA'24 CCF-C

Authors: X. Cai, A.K. Goharshady

Teaching & TA

Concurrent Programming

MT 2026–27 — Oxford

Instructor: Prof. Vincent Cheval

Principles of Programming Languages

MT 2026–27 — Oxford

Instructor: Prof. Samuel Staton

Design and Analysis of Algorithms

HT 2025–26 — Oxford

Instructor: Prof. Sandra Kiefer

Functional Programming

MT 2025–26 — Oxford

Instructor: Prof. Andrzej Murawski

Discrete Mathematical Tools for CS (Honors)

Fall 2024–25 — HKUST

Instructor: Prof. Amir Goharshady

Discrete Mathematical Tools for CS

Spring 2023–24 — HKUST

Instructor: Prof. Sunil Arya and Prof. Jiasi Shen

Introduction to Computer Networks

Spring 2021–22 — UW–Madison

Instructor: Prof. Suman Banerjee

Experience

Conferences

  • CAV'26 — Lisbon, Portugal (July 26–29, 2026), presenter
  • SETTA'25 — Oxford, UK (Dec 1–3, 2025), presenter & local organization team
  • SETTA'24 — Hong Kong SAR (Nov 26–28, 2024), presenter
  • FM'24 — Milan, Italy (Sep 9–13, 2024)

Summer School

  • HUAWEI 2012 Lab Summer School — Dongguan, China (Aug. 17–21, 2026)
  • Summer School on Discrete Mathematics — Prague, Czech (July 1–5, 2024)

Contact

louiscaixuran@outlook.com

xuran.cai@cs.ox.ac.uk

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