Symbolic Semantics and Verification of Stochastic Process Algebras

In the realm of performance and reliability analysis, high-level specification languages like stochastic process algebras (SPA) or generalised stochastic Petri nets (GSPN) have turned out to be extremely useful. During the analysis of systems, being specified with either of the two methods, two main problems can be identified: 1) State space explosion: This problem occurs on generation and storage of the semantic models of complex systems on which analysis is carried out. This semantic model is normally some kind of a continuous time Markov chain (CTMC) or stochastic labelled transition system (SLTS). 2) The specification and automatic verification of complex system requirements This thesis contributes to the alleviation of the state space explosion problem by devising a new denotational semantics for stochastic process algebras that relies on efficient data structures for the compact representation of even huge state spaces. The second problem is addressed by devising a new stochastic temporal logic and corresponding verification algorithms, that allow the sepcification and verification of complex system requirements.