Controllability in a filled domain for a multidimensional wave equation with the singular boundary control (Q677271)

A boundary control problem is formulated, motivated by a local approach to inverse problems (the BI-method). More precisely: given the function \(a=a(x)\), \(x\in\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^n\) \((n>1)\), it claims to find a singular control \(f\) such that the solution \(u^f(x,t)\) of the problem: \[ u_{tt}-\Delta u= 0\quad\text{in }\Omega\times(0,T),\quad u|_{\partial\Omega\times(0,T)}=f,\quad u|_{t=0}= u_t|_{t=0}=0 \] satisfies \(u^f(\cdot,T)= a\), where \(\text{supp }u^f(\cdot,T)\subset \overline\Omega^T\), \(\Omega^T:=\{x\in\Omega\mid \text{dist}(x, \partial\Omega)<T\}\) is a subdomain of \(\Omega\) filled by waves to the final moment \(t=T\) and \(T_*=\inf\{T:\Omega^T=\Omega\}\) is the time of filling of the whole \(\Omega\). The authors establish the following result: if \(T<T_*\), then the reachable set \[ R^T_m:= \{u^f(\cdot,T): f\in L^2((0,T); H^{-m}(\partial\Omega))\} \] is dense in \(D_{-m}(\Omega^T)\) \((\forall m>0)\), but it does not contain the class \(C^\infty_0(\Omega^T)\), showing that if \(a\in C^\infty_0(\Omega^T)\) then \(a\not\in R^T_m\), where \(D_m= \text{Dom}((-\Delta)^{m/2})\) \((m>0)\), \(D_{-m}= (D_m)'\), \(D_{-m}(\Omega^T)= \{y\in D_{-m}:\text{supp } y\subset\Omega^T\}\). The absence of exact controllability is illustrated in the case of the circular membrane, using the Fourier method.