Towards a Proof System for Probabilistic Dynamic Logic

Abstract: Whereas the semantics of probabilistic languages has been extensively studied, specification languages for their properties have received less attention -- with the notable exception of recent and on-going efforts by Joost-Pieter Katoen and collaborators. In this paper, we revisit probabilistic dynamic logic (pDL), a specification logic for programs in the probabilistic guarded command language (pGCL) of McIver and Morgan. Building on dynamic logic, pDL can express both first-order state properties and probabilistic reachability properties. In this paper, we report on work in progress towards a deductive proof system for pDL. This proof system, in line with verification systems for dynamic logic such as KeY, is based on forward reasoning by means of symbolic execution.