A Fully Verified Executable LTL Model Checker

Javier Esparza, Peter Lammich, René Neumann, Tobias Nipkow, Alexander Schimpf, Jan-Georg Smaus

We present an LTL model checker whose code has been completely verified using the Isabelle theorem prover. The checker consists of over 4000 lines of ML code. The code is produced using recent Isabelle technology called the Refinement Framework, which allows us to split its correctness proof into (1) the proof of an abstract version of the checker, consisting of a few hundred lines of ``formalized pseudocode'', and (2) a verified refinement step in which mathematical sets and other abstract structures are replaced by implementations of efficient structures like red-black trees and functional arrays. This leads to a checker that, while still slower than unverified checkers, can already be used as a trusted reference implementation against which advanced implementations can be tested. We report on the structure of the checker, the development process, and some experiments on standard benchmarks.

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BibTeX:

@inproceedings{EsparzaLNNSS-CAV13,
author={Javier Esparza and Peter Lammich and Ren\'{e} Neumann
 and Tobias Nipkow and Alexander Schimpf and Jan-Georg Smaus},
title={A Fully Verified Executable LTL Model Checker},
booktitle={Computer Aided Verification (CAV 2013)},
editor={N. Sharygina and H. Veith},
publisher=Springer,series=LNCS,volume=8044,pages={463-478},year=2013}
AFP entry with Isabelle theories. Depends on a number of other AFP entries. The CAV paper describes an early version.

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