Speeding Up Sum-Check Proving

At the core of the fastest known SNARKs is the sum-check protocol. In this paper, we describe two complementary optimizations that significantly accelerate sum-check proving in key applications.

The first targets scenarios where polynomial evaluations involve small values, such as unsigned 32-bit integers or elements of small subfields within larger extension fields. This setting is common in applications such as Jolt, a state-of-the-art zero-knowledge virtual machine (zkVM) built on the sum-check protocol. Our core idea is to replace expensive multiplications over large fields with cheaper operations over smaller domains, yielding both asymptotic speedups and significant constant-factor improvements. The second optimization addresses a common pattern where sum-check is applied to polynomials of the form g(x) = eq(r, x) • p(x), where eq is the multilinear extension of the equality function. We present a technique that substantially reduces the prover's cost associated with the equality polynomial component. We also describe how to combine both optimizations, which is essential for applications like Spartan within Jolt.

We have implemented and integrated our optimizations into the Jolt zkVM. Our benchmarks show consistent 2-3× speedups for proving the first sum-check of Spartan within Jolt, with performance gains reaching 20× or more when baseline methods approach their memory limits.