Stability enhancement by boundary control in the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation (Q5925835)

The authors discuss the stability of the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation: \[ u_t+ u_{xxxx}+\lambda u_{xx}+ uu_x= 0,\quad 0< x< 1,\quad t>0,\tag{1} \] where \(\lambda> 0\). The stability behaviour depends on the boundary conditions and the value of \(\lambda\). Let \(\sigma_n(\lambda)\) be the eigenvalues of the selfadjoint problem \[ \varphi_{xxxx}+ \lambda\varphi_{xx}= \sigma\varphi,\quad \varphi(0)= \varphi(1)= \varphi_x(0)= \varphi_x(1)= 0\tag{2} \] and set \(\sigma(\lambda)= \inf_n\sigma_n(\lambda)\). It turns out that \(\sigma(4\pi^2)= 0\) and that \(\sigma(\lambda)\) is monotonically decreasing. Theorem 2.1 states that if \(\lambda< 4\pi^2\), then equation (1), supplied by the Dirichlet boundary conditions in (2) is globally asymptotically stable, in particular that the energy \(E(t)= \int^1_0 u(x,t)^2 dx\) decays exponentially. If \(\lambda> 4\pi^2\), then (1) becomes instable under Dirichlet conditions. In case of Neumann boundary conditions \[ u_{xx}(0,t)= u_{xx}(1,t)= u_{xxx}(0,t)= u_{xxx}(1,t),\quad t>0,\tag{3} \] equation (1)+(3) is not asymptotically stable since it admits the trivial solution \(u\equiv 1\). The authors propose to stabilize (1) with the aid of the following nonlinear Neumann boundary conditions: \[ u_{xx}(0)= ku_x(0),\;u_{xxx}(0)= -ku(0)- u(0)^3,\tag{4} \] \[ u_{xx}(1)= -ku_x(1),\;u_{xxx}(1)= ku(1)+ u(1)^3,\quad t> 0. \] They also introduce a higher-order energy function: \[ \begin{multlined} F(t)= ku_x(0, t)^2+ ku(0,t)^2+ \textstyle{{1\over 2}} u(0,t)^4+ ku_x(1, t)^2+ ku(1, t)^2+\\ \textstyle{{1\over 2}} ku(1,t)^4+ \displaystyle{\int^1_c}u_{xx}(s, t)^2 ds.\end{multlined} \] The authors then show (Theorem 2.2) that if \(\lambda< 4\pi^2\) then the energies \(E(t)\), \(F(t)\) decay exponentially, where the involved \(u(x,t)\) is a solution of (1)+(4). Theorem 2.2 is based among others on Theorem 2.3 which expresses local existence and uniqueness of (1)+(4) for any \(\lambda\). The proofs are based on a series of lengthy estimates, related among others to the Green's function of the problem \(u_t+ u_{xxxx}= 0\), \(x\in (0,1)\), \(t>0\) plus boundary conditions in (3).