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Ideal Abstractions for Well-Structured Transition Systems

  • Conference paper
Verification, Model Checking, and Abstract Interpretation (VMCAI 2012)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 7148))

Abstract

Many infinite state systems can be seen as well-structured transition systems (WSTS), i.e., systems equipped with a well-quasi-ordering on states that is also a simulation relation. WSTS are an attractive target for formal analysis because there exist generic algorithms that decide interesting verification problems for this class. Among the most popular algorithms are acceleration-based forward analyses for computing the covering set. Termination of these algorithms can only be guaranteed for flattable WSTS. Yet, many WSTS of practical interest are not flattable and the question whether any given WSTS is flattable is itself undecidable. We therefore propose an analysis that computes the covering set and captures the essence of acceleration-based algorithms, but sacrifices precision for guaranteed termination. Our analysis is an abstract interpretation whose abstract domain builds on the ideal completion of the well-quasi-ordered state space, and a widening operator that mimics acceleration and controls the loss of precision of the analysis. We present instances of our framework for various classes of WSTS. Our experience with a prototype implementation indicates that, despite the inherent precision loss, our analysis often computes the precise covering set of the analyzed system.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IST, Austria

    Damien Zufferey & Thomas A. Henzinger

  2. New York University, USA

    Thomas Wies

Authors
  1. Damien Zufferey
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  2. Thomas Wies
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  3. Thomas A. Henzinger
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), IC IIF LARA INR 318, Station 14, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Viktor Kuncak

  2. Institut für Informatik, Technische Universität München, Boltzmannstr. 3, 85748, Munich, Germany

    Andrey Rybalchenko

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Zufferey, D., Wies, T., Henzinger, T.A. (2012). Ideal Abstractions for Well-Structured Transition Systems. In: Kuncak, V., Rybalchenko, A. (eds) Verification, Model Checking, and Abstract Interpretation. VMCAI 2012. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7148. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27940-9_29

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27940-9_29

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-27939-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27940-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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