Project description
Harnessing strong proofs for reliable computing
Ensuring that computerised systems operate correctly is essential for modern life, yet automatic verification remains a significant technical challenge. While model checking verifies correctness by searching for proofs, powerful proof systems are often too complex for computers to navigate efficiently. The ERC-funded StrongMC project aims to address this by developing algorithms that use robust proof systems, enabling much shorter proofs. The project will focus on integrating these systems into decision procedures and creating algorithms based on the extended resolution system, while assessing their performance. Ultimately, the project seeks to establish a new theoretical foundation that makes model checking more practical, fostering its widespread adoption and improving technological reliability.
Objective
Ensuring that computerized systems adhere to their specifications is of paramount importance to our everyday life. Model Checking (MC) is an automatic formal verification technique for establishing a system’s correctness. Given a model and a specification, it can construct a proof of whether the specification is valid in that model or not.
Proof systems provide formal proof for the validity of a statement under a given set of axioms and are a powerful tool when applying logic in automated reasoning. MC can be viewed as a proof-search algorithm that operates in some proof system.
While MC is widely used in the industry to rigorously establish correctness of computerized systems, its application remains a challenge due to the complexity of implementing efficient proof-search algorithms that construct proofs automatically.
The goal of StrongMC is to develop the theory and algorithms to enable the use of strong proof systems, which admit short proofs, in model checking.
There is an inherent trade-off between the strength of a proof system and the ability to implement an efficient proof-search algorithm for it. As the strength of the proof system increases, so does the size of the search space, making proof-search algorithms intractable and hence our goal is ambitious and challenging. Yet, based on our preliminary results, we conjecture that strong proof systems can be used efficiently in model checking. By probing three thrusts, we aim to tackle this challenge: (1) use decision procedures that utilize strong proof systems in MC; (2) develop MC algorithms that are based on the Extended Resolution proof system; (3) Analyzing the complexity and efficiency of MC algorithms that use strong proof systems from both theoretical and practical points of view.
We expect the new theoretical foundation and the enhanced MC algorithms will lead to the widespread practical adoption of MC, while also having an important impact on many related fields in Formal Methods.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering control systems
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-COG
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32000 Haifa
Israel
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