In: Reisig, W.; Rozenberg, G.: Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 1491: Lectures on Petri Nets I: Basic Models, pages 309-373. Springer-Verlag, 1998.
Abstract: The structure theory of Place/Transition net systems is surveyed - incorporating new contributions - in a tutorial style, mainly from a linear algebraic perspective. Topics included are: state equation based analysis of safety properties (e.g. boundedness, mutual exclusion, deadlock-freeness, etc.), linear invariants, siphons and traps, implicit places and their application to improve the accuracy of the state equation, and rank theorems (structural conditions for liveness and boundedness based on the rank of the incidence matrix).