Optimal control problems for nonlinear variational evolution inequalities (Q1949499)

The paper deals with optimal control problems governed by the following variational inequality in a Hilbert space \(H\): \[ \Big(x'(t)+Ax(t),x(t)-z\Big)+\phi(x(t))-\phi(z)\leq \big(f(t,x(t))+Bu(t),x(t)-z\big),\;\text{a.e.}\;0<t\leq T,\;z\in V, \] \[ x(0)=x_0, \] where \(A\) is a linear continuous operator from \(V\) into \(V^*\) which is assumed to satisfy the Gårding inequality and \(V\) is a dense subspace of \(H,\) \(\phi: V\to (-\infty,+\infty]\) is a lower semicontinuous, proper convex function and \(B\) is a bounded linear operator from the Hilbert space \(U\) of the control variables into \(L^2(0,T;H).\) The authors address the issues of the existence and a variation of constant formula for solutions of the above functional differential equation governed by the variational inequality in Hilbert spaces. Based on the regularity results for the solution, the optimal control problem is established for the cost problems. Finally, the optimal controls are characterized ``by giving necessary conditions for optimality by proving the Gâteaux differentiability of the solution mapping on control variables'' (from authors' abstract).