Specification and verification of modal properties for structured systems

System specification formalisms should come with suitable property specification languages and effective verification tools. We sketch a framework for the verification of quantified temporal properties of systems with dynamically evolving structure. We consider visual specification formalisms like graph transformation systems (GTS) where program states are modelled as graphs, and the program behaviour is specified by graph transformation rules. The state space of a GTS can be represented as a graph transition system (GTrS), i.e. a transition system with states and transitions labelled, respectively, with a graph, and with a partial morphism representing the evolution of state components. Unfortunately, GTrSs are prohibitively large or infinite even for simple systems, making verification intractable and hence calling for appropriate abstraction techniques