Concurrent Systems

In modern information systems, a large number of different components are often active simultaneously. This phenomenon - known as concurrency - underlies not only the functioning of computer systems but of any system in which many processes take place at the same time.

It leads to a huge variety of complicated interactions that affect the overall functioning of the system. The aim of our research of concurrent systems is to understand and model these interactions and describe their effect. We investigate Petri nets as well as other models of concurrent and distributed systems, like team automata. Our focus is on semantical aspects, synthesis, and formal analysis and verification techniques. This research profits from our expertise and ongoing theoretical research in the fields of mathematical structures, logic, formal languages and automata. We apply our insights to and are motivated by biological systems, hardware (asynchronous circuits), and business protocols (e.g., groupware and financial markets). In collaboration with CWI, we investigate the development, implementation, and applications of Reo, an exogenous coordination model for construction of coordinating connectors in distributed, mobile, and dynamically reconfigurable component-based systems.