On the controllability of the relativistic Vlasov-Maxwell system (Q2253731)

This paper studies the controllability of the two-dimensional relativistic Vlasov-Maxwell system on a torus. This describes the evolution of a cloud of charged particles under self-consistent interactions with their own electromagnetic field. The relativistic character of the equations means that the changes in the electromagnetic field propagate with a fixed, finite speed. The control is assumed to be supported on a subset of the torus. Two kinds of results are given. Firstly, controllability for the Vlasov-Maxwell system for small data, compactly supported in the momentum variable, is proved under a Geometric Control Condition (GCC). Such GCC's appear as necessary and sufficient conditions in control of wave equations, essentially ensuring that the support of the control is large enough to interact with all characteristics in finite time, and thus to successfully control the solution in every possible case. The GCC appears here because of the wave character of the Maxwell part of the system. The proof uses the return method of \textit{J.-M. Coron} [Control and nonlinearity. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (2007; Zbl 1140.93002)] and a linearization around an appropriately chosen special solution. The second kind of result concerns only the control of the particle density, and not of the electromagnetic field. The authors adapt an appropriate reference solution of the Vlasov equation (previously developed for the non-relativistic version); the proof then proceeds to treat the linearized problem around this reference solution. This approach allows for a ``strip condition'' to be used in the place of the GCC (roughly speaking, the support of the control has to include a full strip). It also requires a large enough speed of light, in addition to the usual smallness assumptions.