Approximate Probabilistic Bisimulation for Continuous-Time Markov Chains

Abstract: We introduce $(\varepsilon, \delta)$-bisimulation, a novel type of approximate probabilistic bisimulation for continuous-time Markov chains. In contrast to related notions, $(\varepsilon, \delta)$-bisimulation allows the use of different tolerances for the transition probabilities ($\varepsilon$, additive) and total exit rates ($\delta$, multiplicative) of states. Fundamental properties of the notion, as well as bounds on the absolute difference of time- and reward-bounded reachability probabilities for $(\varepsilon,\delta)$-bisimilar states, are established.