Minimal time of controllability of two parabolic equations with disjoint control and coupling domains

Abstract

We consider two parabolic equations coupled by a matrix <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi>A</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>x</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mi>q</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>x</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>A</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:math> , where <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>A</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:math> is a Jordan block of order 1, and controlled by a single localized function, or by a single boundary control. The support of the coupling coefficient, q , and the control domain may be disjoint. We exhibit an explicit minimal time of null-controllability, <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>T</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>q</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> <mml:mo>∈</mml:mo> <mml:mo stretchy="false">[</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mo>∞</mml:mo> <mml:mo stretchy="false">]</mml:mo> </mml:math> .