Controllability of the heat equation with an inverse-square potential localized on the boundary

This article is devoted to analyze control properties for the heat equation with singular potential $-\mu/|x|^2$ arising at the boundary of a smooth domain \Omega\subset \rr^N, $N\geq 1$. This problem was firstly studied by Vancostenoble and Zuazua [20] and then generalized by Ervedoza [10]in the context of interior singularity. Roughly speaking, these results showed that for any value of parameters $\mu\leq \mu(N):=(N-2)^2/4$, the corresponding parabolic system can be controlled to zero with the control distributed in any open subset of the domain. The critical value $\mu(N)$ stands for the best constant in the Hardy inequality with interior singularity. When considering the case of boundary singularity a better critical Hardy constant is obtained, namely $\mu_{N}:=N^2/4$. In this article we extend the previous results in [18],[8], to the case of boundary singularity. More precisely, we show that for any $\mu \leq \mu_N$, we can lead the system to zero state using a distributed control in any open subset. We emphasize that our results cannot be obtained straightforwardly from the previous works [20], [10].Comment: 32 page

Null controllability of one-dimensional parabolic equations by the flatness approach

We consider linear one-dimensional parabolic equations with space dependent coefficients that are only measurable and that may be degenerate or singular.Considering generalized Robin-Neumann boundary conditions at both extremities, we prove the null controllability with one boundary control by following the flatness approach, which providesexplicitly the control and the associated trajectory as series. Both the control and the trajectory have a Gevrey regularity in time related to the $L^p$ class of the coefficient in front of $u\_t$.The approach applies in particular to the (possibly degenerate or singular) heat equation $(a(x)u\_x)\_x-u\_t=0$ with a(x)\textgreater{}0 for a.e. $x\in (0,1)$ and $a+1/a \in L^1(0,1)$, or to the heat equation with inverse square potential $u\_{xx}+(\mu / |x|^2)u-u\_t=0$with $\mu\ge 1/4$

Null controllability for a heat equation with a singular inverse-square potential involving the distance to the boundary function

This article is devoted to the analysis of control properties for a heat equation with a singular potential μ/δ2, defined on a bounded C2 domain Ω⊂RN, where δ is the distance to the boundary function. More precisely, we show that for any μ≤1/4 the system is exactly null controllable using a distributed control located in any open subset of Ω, while for μ>1/4 there is no way of preventing the solutions of the equation from blowing-up. The result is obtained applying a new Carleman estimate

An obstruction to small time local null controllability for a viscous Burgers' equation

In this work, we are interested in the small time local null controllability for the viscous Burgers' equation $y_t - y_{xx} + y y_x = u(t)$ on the line segment $[0,1]$, with null boundary conditions. The second-hand side is a scalar control playing a role similar to that of a pressure. In this setting, the classical Lie bracket necessary condition $[f_1,[f_1,f_0]]$ introduced by Sussmann fails to conclude. However, using a quadratic expansion of our system, we exhibit a second order obstruction to small time local null controllability. This obstruction holds although the information propagation speed is infinite for the Burgers equation. Our obstruction involves the weak $H^{-5/4}$ norm of the control $u$. The proof requires the careful derivation of an integral kernel operator and the estimation of residues by means of weakly singular integral operator estimates

On the controllability of Partial Differential Equations involving non-local terms and singular potentials

In this thesis, we investigate controllability and observability properties of Partial Differential Equations describing various phenomena appearing in several fields of the applied sciences such as elasticity theory, ecology, anomalous transport and diffusion, material science, porous media flow and quantum mechanics. In particular, we focus on evolution Partial Differential Equations with non-local and singular terms. Concerning non-local problems, we analyse the interior controllability of a Schr\"odinger and a wave-type equation in which the Laplace operator is replaced by the fractional Laplacian $(-\Delta)^s$. Under appropriate assumptions on the order $s$ of the fractional Laplace operator involved, we prove the exact null controllability of both equations, employing a $L^2$ control supported in a neighbourhood $\omega$ of the boundary of a bounded $C^{1,1}$ domain $\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^N$. More precisely, we show that both the Schrodinger and the wave equation are null-controllable, for $s\geq 1/2$ and for $s\geq 1$ respectively. Furthermore, these exponents are sharp and controllability fails for $s<1/2$ (resp. $s<1$) for the Schrödinger (resp. wave) equation. Our proof is based on multiplier techniques and the very classical Hilbert Uniqueness Method. For models involving singular terms, we firstly address the boundary controllability problem for a one-dimensional heat equation with the singular inverse-square potential $V(x):=\mu/x^2$, whose singularity is localised at one extreme of the space interval $(0,1)$ in which the PDE is defined. For all $0<\mu<1/4$, we obtain the null controllability of the equation, acting with a $L^2$ control located at $x=0$, which is both a boundary point and the pole of the potential. This result follows from analogous ones presented in \cite{gueye2014exact} for parabolic equations with variable degenerate coefficients. Finally, we study the interior controllability of a heat equation with the singular inverse-square potential $\Lambda(x):=\mu/\delta^2$, involving the distance $\delta$ to the boundary of a bounded and $C^2$ domain $\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^N$, $N\geq 3$. For all $\mu\leq 1/4$ (the critical Hardy constant associated to the potential $\Lambda$), we obtain the null controllability employing a $L^2$ control supported in an open subset $\omega\subset\Omega$. Moreover, we show that the upper bound $\mu=1/4$ is sharp. Our proof relies on a new Carleman estimate, obtained employing a weight properly designed for compensating the singularities of the potential