Necessary and sufficient optimality conditions for elliptic control problems with finitely many pointwise state constraints

The goal of this paper is to prove the first and second order optimality conditions for some control problems governed by semilinear elliptic equations with pointwise control constraints and finitely many equality and inequality pointwise state constraints. To carry out the analysis we formulate a regularity assumption which is equivalent to the first order optimality conditions. Though the presence of pointwise state constraints leads to a discontinuous adjoint state, we prove that the optimal control is Lipschitz in the whole domain. Necessary and sufficient second order conditions are proved with a minimal gap between them

Second order optimality conditions for semilinear elliptic control problems with finitely many state constraints

This paper deals with necessary and sufficient optimality conditions for control problems governed by semilinear elliptic partial differential equations with finitely many equality and inequality state constraints. Some recent results on this topic for optimal control problems based upon results for abstract optimization problems are compared with some new results using methods adapted to the control problems. Meanwhile, the Lagrangian formulation is followed to provide the optimality conditions in the first case; the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian functions are used in the second statement. Finally, we prove the equivalence of both formulations

Sufficient conditions for unique global solutions in optimal control of semilinear equations with C1−C^1-nonlinearity

We consider a $C^1-$semilinear elliptic optimal control problem possibly subject to control and/or state constraints. Generalizing previous work we provide a condition which guarantees that a solution of the necessary first order conditions is a global minimum. A similiar result also holds at the discrete level where the corresponding condition can be evaluated explicitly. Our investigations are motivated by G\"unter Leugering, who raised the question whether our previous results can be extended to the nonlinearity $\phi(s)=s|s|$. We develop a corresponding analysis and present several numerical test examples demonstrating its usefulness in practice

Recent advances in the analysis of pointwise state-constrained elliptic optimal control problems

Optimal control problems for semilinear elliptic equations with control constraints and pointwise state constraints are studied. Several theoretical results are derived, which are necessary to carry out a numerical analysis for this class of control problems. In particular, sufficient second-order optimality conditions, some new regularity results on optimal controls and a sufficient condition for the uniqueness of the Lagrange multiplier associated with the state constraints are presented

On the no-gap second-order optimality conditions for a non-smooth semilinear elliptic optimal control

This work is concerned with second-order necessary and sufficient optimality conditions for optimal control of a non-smooth semilinear elliptic partial differential equation, where the nonlinearity is the non-smooth max-function and thus the associated control-to-state operator is in general not G\^{a}teaux-differentiable. In addition to standing assumptions, two main hypotheses are imposed. The first one is the G\^{a}teaux-differentiability at the considered control of the objective functional and it is precisely characterized by the vanishing of an adjoint state on the active set. The second one is a structural assumption on the 'almost' active sets, i.e., the sets of all points at which the values of the interested state are 'close' to the non-differentiability point of the max-function. We then derive a 'no-gap' theory of second-order optimality conditions in terms of an abstract curvature functional, i.e., for which the only change between necessary or sufficient second-order optimality conditions is between a strict and non strict inequality

Sparse optimal control for a semilinear heat equation with mixed control-state constraints - regularity of Lagrange multipliers

An optimal control problem for a semilinear heat equation with distributed control is discussed, where two-sided pointwise box constraints on the control and two-sided pointwise mixed control-state constraints are given. The objective functional is the sum of a standard quadratic tracking type part and a multiple of the L1-norm of the control that accounts for sparsity. Under a certain structural condition on almost active sets of the optimal solution, the existence of integrable Lagrange multipliers is proved for all inequality constraints. For this purpose, a theorem by Yosida and Hewitt is used. It is shown that the structural condition is fulfilled for all sufficiently large sparsity parameters. The sparsity of the optimal control is investigated. Eventually, higher smoothness of Lagrange multipliers is shown up to Hölder regularity.The first author was partially supported by Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad under research project MTM2017-83185-P

Second order optimality conditions and their role in PDE control

If f : Rn R is twice continuously differentiable, f’(u) = 0 and f’’(u) is positive definite, then u is a local minimizer of f. This paper surveys the extension of this well known second order suffcient optimality condition to the case f : U R, where U is an infinite-dimensional linear normed space. The reader will be guided from the case of finite-dimensions via a brief discussion of the calculus of variations and the optimal control of ordinary differential equations to the control of nonlinear partial differential equations, where U is a function space. In particular, the following questions will be addressed: Is the extension to infinite dimensions straightforward or will unexpected difficulties occur? How second order sufficient optimality conditions must be modified, if simple inequality constraints are imposed on u? Why do we need second order conditions and how can they be applied? If they are important, are we able to check if they are fulfilled order sufficient optimality condition to the case f : U R, where U is an infinite-dimensional linear normed space. The reader will be guided from the case of finite-dimensions via a brief discussion of the calculus of variations and the optimal control of ordinary differential equations to the control of nonlinear partial differential equations, where U is a function space. In particular, the following questions will be addressed: Is the extension to infinite dimensions straightforward or will unexpected difficulties occur? How second order sufficient optimality conditions must be modified, if simple inequality constraints are imposed on u? Why do we need second order conditions and how can they be applied? If they are important, are we able to check if they are fulfilled? It turns out that infinite dimensions cause new difficulties that do not occur in finite dimensions. We will be faced with the surprising fact that the space, where f’’(u) exists can be useless to ensure positive definiteness of the quadratic form v f’’(u)v2. In this context, the famous two-norm discrepancy, its consequences, and techniques for overcoming this difficulty are explained. To keep the presentation simple, the theory is developed for problems in function spaces with simple box constraints of the form a = u = ß. The theory of second order conditions in the control of partial differential equations is presented exemplarily for the nonlinear heat equation. Different types of critical cones are introduced, where the positivity of f’’(u) must be required. Their form depends on whether a so-called Tikhonov regularization term is part of the functional f or not. In this context, the paper contains also new results that lead to quadratic growth conditions in the strong sense. As a first application of second-order sufficient conditions, the stability of optimal solutions with respect to perturbations of the data of the control problem is discussed. Second, their use in analyzing the discretization of control problems by finite elements is studied. A survey on further related topics, open questions, and relevant literature concludes the paper.The first author was partially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad under project MTM2011-22711, the second author by DFG in the framework of the Collaborative Research Center SFB 910, project B6