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Craig interpolation has become a versatile tool in formal verification, in particular for generating intermediate assertions in safety analysis and model checking. In this paper, we present a novel interpolation procedure for the theory of arrays, extending an interpolating calculus for the full theory of quantifier-free Presburger arithmetic, which will be presented at IJCAR this year. We investigate the use of this procedure in a software model checker for C programs. A distinguishing feature of the model checker is its ability to faithfully model machine arithmetic with an encoding into Presburger arithmetic with uninterpreted predicates. The interpolation procedure allows the synthesis of quantified invariants about arrays. This paper presents work in progress; we include initial experiments to demonstrate the potential of our method.

Craig interpolation has become a versatile tool in formal verification, used for instance to generate program assertions that serve as candidates for loop invariants. In this paper, we consider Craig interpolation for quantifier-free Presburger arithmetic (QFPA). Until recently, quantifier elimination was the only available interpolation method for this theory, which is, however, known to be potentially costly and inflexible. We introduce an interpolation approach based on a sequent calculus for QFPA that determines interpolants by annotating the steps of an unsatisfiability proof with partial interpolants. We prove our calculus to be sound and complete. We have extended the Princess theorem prover to generate interpolating proofs, and applied it to a large number of publicly available Presburger arithmetic benchmarks. The results document the robustness and efficiency of our interpolation procedure. Finally, we compare the procedure against alternative interpolation methods, both for QFPA and linear rational arithmetic. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.