E. M. Clarke

We give an efficient procedure for verifying that a finite-state concurrent system meets a specification expressed in a (propositional, branching-time) temporal logic. Our algorithm has complexity linear in both the size of the specification and the size of the global state graph for the concurrent system. We also show how this approach can be adapted to handle fairness. We argue that our technique can provide a practical alternative to manual proof construction or use of a mechanical theorem prover for verifying many finite-state concurrent systems. Experimental results show that state machines with several hundred states can be checked in a matter of seconds.

The complexity of satisfiability and determination of truth in a particular finite structure are considered for different propositional linear temporal logics. It is shown that these problems are NP-complete for the logic with F and are PSPACE-complete for the logics with F, X, with U, with U, S, X operators and for the extended logic with regular operators given by Wolper.

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