  Control systems are an integral part of almost every engineering and physical
system and thus their accurate analysis is of utmost importance. Traditionally,
control systems are analyzed using paper-and-pencil proof and computer
simulation methods, however, both of these methods cannot provide accurate
analysis due to their inherent limitations. Model checking has been widely used
to analyze control systems but the continuous nature of their environment and
physical components cannot be truly captured by a state-transition system in
this technique. To overcome these limitations, we propose to use
higher-order-logic theorem proving for analyzing linear control systems based
on a formalized theory of the Laplace transform method. For this purpose, we
have formalized the foundations of linear control system analysis in
higher-order logic so that a linear control system can be readily modeled and
analyzed. The paper presents a new formalization of the Laplace transform and
the formal verification of its properties that are frequently used in the
transfer function based analysis to judge the frequency response, gain margin
and phase margin, and stability of a linear control system. We also formalize
the active realizations of various controllers, like
Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID), Proportional-Integral (PI),
Proportional-Derivative (PD), and various active and passive compensators, like
lead, lag and lag-lead. For illustration, we present a formal analysis of an
unmanned free-swimming submersible vehicle using the HOL Light theorem prover.
