A Formal Model of Provenance in Distributed Systems

We present a formalism for provenance in distributed systems based on the π-calculus. Its main feature is that all data products are annotated with metadata representing their provenance. The calculus is given a provenance tracking semantics, which ensures that data provenance is updated as the computation proceeds. The calculus also enjoys a pattern-restricted input primitive which allows processes to decide what data to receive and what branch of computation to proceed with based on the provenance information of data. We give examples to illustrate the use of the calculus and discuss some of the semantic properties of our provenance notion. We conclude by reviewing related work and discussing directions for future research