The ring of Witt vectors W R over a base ring R is an important tool in algebraic number theory and lies at the foundations of modern p-adic Hodge theory. W R has the interesting property that it constructs a ring of characteristic 0 out of a ring of characteristic p > 1, and it can be used more specifically to construct from a finite field containing ℤ/pℤ the corresponding unramified field extension of the p-adic numbers ℚp (which is unique up to isomorphism).

Perfectoid spaces are sophisticated objects in arithmetic geometry introduced by Peter Scholze in 2012. We formalised enough definitions and theorems in topology, algebra and geometry to define perfectoid spaces in the Lean theorem prover. This experiment confirms that a proof assistant can handle complexity in that direction, which is rather different from formalising a long proof about simple objects. It also confirms that mathematicians with no computer science training can become proficient users of a proof assistant in a relatively short period of time. Finally, we observe that formalising a piece of mathematics that is a trending topic boosts the visibility of proof assistants amongst pure mathematicians.