Local null controllability of a free-boundary problem for the quasi-linear 1D parabolic equation (Q2235820)

The authors considered the local null controllability of a free-boundary problem for a class of quasilinear 1D parabolic equations with an arbitrary located internal controller. Notice that the nonlinearity appearing in the principal operator brings new difficulties, which are different from the semilinear case essentially. Unlike the controllability of a free-boundary problem for the linear and semilinear heat equations, they used a delicate Carleman estimate and solve the controllability problem in the frame of classical solutions. The authors proved that for any initial state that is sufficiently small, there exists a control that derives the state exactly to rest at time \(t = T\).