Minimal time impulse control of the heat equation

Abstract

The paper is concerned with a kind of minimal time control problem for the heat equation with impulse controls. The purpose of such a problem is to find an optimal impulse control (among certain control constraint set) steering the solution of the heat equation from a given initial state to a given target set as soon as possible. We will first study the existence and uniqueness of optimal solution for this problem. In the formulation of this problem, there are two parameters: one is the upper bound of the control constraint and the other one is the moment of impulse time. Then, we will establish the continuity of the minimal time function of this problem with respect to the above mentioned two parameters. Moreover, the convergence of the optimal control is also discussed.