No label defined (Q4454216)

The purpose of this very important and useful paper is to study the question concerning boundary stabilization of a vibrating string with an interior point mass, zero Dirichlet condition at the left end and velocity feedback at the right end. The system under investigation consists of two strings of length \(l_1\) and \(l_2\), respectively. In their rest states, the strings occupy the intervals \(\Omega_1= (-l_1,0)\) and \(\Omega_2= (0,l_2)\) of the \(x\)-axis, respectively. At the origin, each string is tied to a particle of mass \(M\) whose displacement away from the \(x\)-axis at time \(t\) is given by \(z(t)\). The transverse displacements of the strings are given by \(u\) and \(v\). The model governing the system is \[ \begin{cases} \rho_1 u_{tt}= \sigma_1 u_{xx},\quad & x\in\Omega_1,\;t> 0,\\ \rho_2 v_{tt}= \sigma_2 v_{xx},\quad & x\in\Omega_2,\;t> 0,\\ Mz_{tt}+ \sigma_1 u_x(0,t)- \sigma_2 v_x(0,t)= 0,\quad & t> 0,\\ u(x,0)= u^0(x),\;u_t(x,0)= u^1(x),\quad & x\in\Omega_1,\\ v(x,0)= v^0(x),\;v_t(x,0)= v^1(x),\quad & x\in\Omega_2,\\ z(t)= u(0,t)= v(0,t)\quad & t> 0.\end{cases}\tag{1} \] Here the densities \(\rho_1\), \(\rho_2\) and the tensions \(\sigma_1\), \(\sigma_2\), are assumed to be constants. The velocity feedback occurs at the end \(x =l_2\), while at the other end \(x= -l_1\), being a Dirichlet boundary condition. The boundary conditions are \[ \begin{cases} u(-l_1, t)= 0,\quad & t> 0,\\ \sigma_2 v_x(l_2, t)+\gamma v_t(l_2, t)= 0,\quad & t> 0,\text{ where }\gamma\text{ is positive}.\end{cases}\tag{2} \] Main result: The authors improve on the result of Hansen and Zuazua by showing that the energy to the right of the mass decays like \(C/t\), that the energy associated to the mass decays like \(C/\sqrt{t}\), and that to the left of the mass decays to zero, but at no specific rate. The authors propose the precise proofs (assuming finite energy initially) of the energy decay estimates for the initial-boundary-value problem (1), (2). For the entire collection see [Zbl 0998.00008].