Controllability of a parabolic system with a diffuse interface (Q2375903)

A linear parabolic transmission problem across an interface of co-dimension one in a bounded domain or on a Riemannian manifold, where the transmission conditions involve an additional parabolic operator on the interface, is considered. The authors consider parabolic/elliptic models in which the transmission conditions are of higher order, involving differentiations of the interface. Such a model can be viewed as an idealization of two diffusive media separated by a thin membrane. They derive this model starting from three media and formally letting the thickness of the intermediate layer become very small. A small parameter \(\delta > 0\) that measures the thickness of this layer is introduced. A Carleman estimate in the neighborhood of the interface for an associated elliptic operator by means of partial estimates in several microlocal regions is proved. In turn, from the Carleman estimate, a spectral inequality that yields the null-controllability of the parabolic system is obtained. These results are uniform with respect to parameter \(\delta\).